A Self-Study Curriculum in Electromyography and Nerve Conduction Studies for Residents and Fellows

To our knowledge, there are no freely available curricula for a focused resident or fellow rotation in electromyography and nerve conduction studies that address the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) milestones for neurology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, clinical neurophysiology, or neuromuscular medicine. Thus, we created this curriculum to help trainees develop a basic understanding of clinical electrodiagnostic studies. The program objectives map to many of the relevant ACGME milestones, primarily those pertaining to medical knowledge, patient care, and practice-based learning and improvement.

The curricular materials include an interactive, hyperlink-driven slide show with 19 educational modules, subdivided further into basic and advanced topics. We also created a 50-question multiple-choice test, paired each question with key concepts, and provided instructions on using the test results to develop a trainee-specific learning plan.

Residents and fellows have been using this curriculum at the University of Michigan since 2007. The mean and median scores of 80 trainees who took the 50-item test between 2007 and 2016 were 80% and 82%, respectively, with a standard deviation of 10%. In annual surveys of neurology residents, this electromyography rotation has consistently had the highest mean approval rating of all clinical rotations in the training program.

This curriculum is a complete, self-contained learning resource that may be used alone or to supplement a supervised apprenticeship for trainees who want to learn to perform electrodiagnostic studies independently. The content ensures that trainees demonstrate mastery of many of the ACGME milestones for their field.