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Published on: December 8, 2014
A Scoping Review: Mapping the Evidence for Undergraduate Concussion Education and Proposing the Content for Medical
Nick Gardner1, Neil Heron2,3
1Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT9 7BL, UK.
Introduction:
Concussion is a common yet complex condition, with each new case requiring assessment by a medical doctor. Recent research has shown that doctors working in the UK have significant knowledge deficits regarding concussion diagnosis and management.
Aim:
The aim of this scoping review was to map out the evidence about how undergraduate medical students are being educated about concussion.
Method:
This scoping review involved seven research papers identified by searching five online databases in October 2020. Search terms relevant to concussion included: brain injuries, post-concussion syndrome, brain concussion and concussion, combined with search criteria for undergraduate education: medical students, undergraduate medical education, or curriculum.
Results:
All seven papers were published in North America, with five papers recruiting medical students from single institutions (n = 590) and two papers surveying universities. Canadian medical schools have shown an upward trend in the quantity of teaching about concussion-specific teaching: from 0.57 to 2.65 h between 2012 and 2018. Lectures were the commonest mode of delivery of teaching, followed by problem-based learning and clinical rotations. The studies reach a common conclusion that medical students are not being adequately prepared for diagnosing and managing concussion, with insufficient undergraduate teaching, particularly exposure during clinical rotations, cited as the cause.
Conclusions:
Concussion: education of medical students is inadequate in North America. Medical schools should help address this by providing lectures and clinical presentations on concussion to learn from, particularly via problem-based learning. There is a paucity of evidence about concussion education in other geographical areas.
