World Neurosurg
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There is a growing need for collaborative and broad-scale medical student neurosurgery educational initiatives. Here, we propose a comprehensive methodology and structure for hosting both in-person and virtual learning opportunities for early trainees interested in clinical neurosciences. ⋯ Based on the Medical Student Neurosurgery Training Center experience, successful production and hosting of both in-person and virtual educational endeavors seems to be contingent on a collaborative effort by medical students, resident physicians, and neurosurgery faculty. Including medical students throughout the planning phase adds to the overall educational value of each experience and promotes program longevity and consumer engagement. Curricula should be guided by clear learning objectives and a variety of teaching modalities available to the organization. Finally, methods for assessing course outcomes are important, including institutional review board-approved data curation and analysis. Further investigation of neurosurgical learning outcome measurement is needed and has the potential to shape the future of medical student education and neurosurgery career preparation.
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Neurosurgery has a high barrier of educational access for medical students. The Medical Student Neurosurgery Training Center (MSNTC) is a novel online learning platform that provides on-site and virtual training opportunities and resources that aim to increase student access to neurosurgical education. The objective of this article was to describe student-reported utility of Medical Student Neurosurgery Training Center educational resources. ⋯ Medical Student Neurosurgery Training Center resources appear to have promising preliminary benefits for students. Increasing medical student awareness, continued development of these resources, and objectively assessing outcomes in neurosurgery education are warranted.
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Diversity, equity, and inclusion within the healthcare workforce are conducive to providing culturally competent care. However, few existing studies have assessed the level of racial and ethnic diversity among resident physicians and residency applicants. Our objective was to provide a comparative analysis of the trends in racial and ethnic representation within different subspecialties in medicine. ⋯ Among the surveyed specialties, neurosurgery demonstrated the greatest disparity between the percentage of Black/African-American residency applicants and current residents. To further drive progress in this domain, we advocate for a series of initiatives designed to increase underrepresented minority participation in neurosurgery practice and scholarship.
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With the recent paradigm shift in neurosurgical publications, open access (OA) publishing is burgeoning along with traditional publishing methods. We aimed to explore costs of publication across 53 journals. ⋯ The lack of easily accessible information about neurosurgical publications, such as submission costs or OA charges, creates an unnecessary hurdle and should be remedied. Publishing in neurosurgery should be a positive learning experience, and cost should not be a limiting factor.
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The Comprehensive Aneurysm Management (CAM) study is a pragmatic trial designed to manage unruptured intracranial aneurysm (UIA) patients within a care research framework. ⋯ CAM was successfully integrated into routine practice. Meaningful conclusions can be obtained if multiple centers actively participate in the trial.