Teaching evidence-based clinical practice to neurology and neurosurgery residents

Abstract

The primary objective of education in evidence-based clinical practice (EBCP) is to provide a resident or student with the requisite skills to satisfactorily solve real everyday clinical problems throughout their careers and to translate those solutions into better care for patients. At the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, there is a well-developed and highly successful evidence-based neurology curriculum primarily aimed at residents. This article summarizes the current context of EBCP postgraduate training in the neurological sciences and a detailed description of its purpose, learning outcomes, required resources, content, teaching strategies, and assessment tools. In this program, we teach the principles of EBCP through the review of pertinent neurological clinical questions. The summary of each topic is recorded on our website in the form of critically appraised topics (CATs) in electronically accessible CAT banks.