

Geriatric Neurology Web Module for Third-Year Neurology Clerkship
University of Kansas School of Medicine
This web-module series was created for third-year medical students on the neurology clerkship to teach them about ten geriatric neurology topics: Parkinson's disease, stroke, dementia, delirium, peripheral neuropathy, neck/back pain, sleep disorders, temporal arteritis, cranial nerve disorders, and localization of a lesion. A case and post-module questions are provided for each topic.
- The students will be able to evaluate patients with neck and back pain.
- The students will be able to identify spinal root innervation of upper and lower extremity reflexes.
- The students will be able to map myotomal innervation of major muscles in the upper and lower extremities.
- The students will be able to describe signs and symptoms of temporal arteritis.
- The students will be able to outline appropriate treatment for a patient with temporal arteritis.
- The students will be able to localize major neurological deficits.
- The students will be able to recognize the cardinal features of Parkinson's Disease.
- The students will be able to diagnose the parkinsonian gait from the video clip.
- The students will be able to compare and contrast hemorrhagic, thrombotic, and embolic strokes.
- The students will be able to identify stroke risk factors.
- The students will be able to evaluate a stroke patient.
- The students will be able to develop an appropriate treatment plan for a stroke patient.
- The students will be able to describe the physical examination findings in a patient with peripheral neuropathy.
- The students will be able to outline an appropriate treatment plan for a patient with peripheral neuropathy.
- The students will be able to compare and contrast Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, vascular dementia, normal pressure hydrocephalus, Creutzfeldt-Jakob (CJD), and Wernicke’s encephalopathy.
- The students will be able to outline appropriate treatment for a patient with dementia.
- The students will be able to identify physical signs associated with cranial nerve disorders.
Prior to initiation of the web-module, 20 medical students in the neurology clerkship were taught using a standard didactic lecture series. These students were administered a pre- and post-test questionnaire to assess their knowledge of the geriatric neurology topics. After implementation of the web-module, the geriatric neurology topics were no longer included in the didactic lecture series. Instead this information was provided only through the web-module. While post-test scores between the two curricula were not significantly different, knowledge of geriatric neurology did improve through use of both geriatric neurology didactic lectures and web-module presentation of these topics. Therefore, the geriatric neurology web-module appears to be an effective means of educating third-year medical students in geriatric neurology topics.
This educational web module provides a case and post-module questions for each of the following topics:
- The evaluation, localization, and treatment of neck and back pain
- The evaluation and treatment of temporal arteritis
- The localization of neurologic deficits
- The diagnosis and presentation of Parkinson's Disease
- The diagnosis and presentation of stroke
- The evaluation and treatment of peripheral neuropathy
- The evaluation and treatment of a patient with dementia
- The evaluation of cranial nerve disorders
- The evaluation of and risk factors for delirium
- Common causes of sleep disturbances
Comments
excellent reference.