Medical Student Neurophobia: A Review Of The Current Pandemic And Proposed Educational Solutions

Abstract

Traditionally, the subject of neuroscience has been one of the most difficult courses for medical students in undergraduate medical education. Over the last few decades, a fear of neurology and the neurosciences, termed neurophobia, has presented among medical students around the world. Today, neurophobia has resulted in medical students not learning neurology and neurosciences to a sufficient extent to be able to apply this knowledge to patients presenting with neurologic symptomatology. To address the crisis at hand, medical educators have developed novel learning modalities to fight this chronic disease of medical students. In this brief review, I examine the educational literature regarding the current pandemic of neurophobia as well as analyze published novel educational modalities that may be used to diminish neurophobia among medical students.

Preventing “neurophobia”: Remodeling neurology education for 21st-century medical students through effective pedagogical strategies for “neurophilia”

“…Literature suggests that innovative pedagogical practices and instructional strategies must be adopted including blending of collective fields of digital technology (technology-enhanced learning [TEL]), brain-based education, adult and active learning theories, learning styles, and multiple intelligence theory. [ 46 47 48 49 ]…”

The effect of flipped classroom in multiple clinical skills training for clinical interns on Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE)

“…However, there was no significant difference in OSCE scores between the two groups in the neurological examination, with the lowest average score of all grades. A study have shown that medical students have neurophobia, which has been demonstrated throughout the world, and neurology has the complex neurologic examination, difficult neuroanatomy and poorly taught neurology curricula [ 22 ]. Based on this we speculate that the interns were nervous about the high difficulty of neurological physical examination and the lack of teaching, which affected their assessment results.…”