Educating the next generation of physicians about stroke - Incorporating stroke prevention into the medical school curriculum

Background and Purpose-In response to the need to educate physicians about stroke, we have implemented an educational program on stroke prevention for undergraduate medical students within the first-year neuroscience course. This study investigated whether first-year students learned and retained ke y information about stroke, and used students' feedback both to identify ef fective curricular component, and to explore their attitudes regarding stro ke prevention. Methods-Stroke knowledge and self-assessed confidence in that knowledge bef ore, immediately after, and 8 months after participation in the stroke curr iculum were analyzed and compared for 3 classes, using paired t tests and r epeated-measures ANOVA. Student feedback about the effectiveness of specifi c parts of the curriculum and about the importance of stroke prevention was solicited and evaluated. Results-First-year medical students in 3 classes more than doubled their ov erall stroke knowledge scores (pretest total mean of 8.2: posttest mean 18. 0). and retained significant improvement 8 month,, later (mean 15.7). Subsc ores in all 4 areas of stroke knowledge tested significantly increased (P < 0.001). Students' confidence in their knowledge of stroke risk factors and warning signs. as well as in their knowledge itself, increased (P <0.001). Each of the 3 cohorts demonstrated similar improvements. Feedback indicated heightened awareness and interest in stroke prevention, which was maintain ed after completion of the Curriculum. Conchisions-These results demonstrate that when instruction on stroke preve ntion is incorporated into the first-year curriculum. students learn and re tain key information. Because entire classes of medical students are involv ed, this type of approach has the potential to reach all future physicians and therefore to meaningfully impact future stroke care.