Opinion & Special Article: Next Steps in Palliative Care Education for Neurology Residents

Abstract

Many neurologic diseases are life limiting and markedly impair patients' quality of life. Growing recommendations in the field recommend that neurologists have primary skills in palliative medicine that will allow them to manage symptoms and discuss end-of-life decisions with patients and families. Previous work has shown that formal palliative care training in neurology residencies is very limited. In this article, we briefly describe a national survey of neurology residents where we assess both the quantity and quality of the teaching they receive in end-of-life care as compared to a common and an uncommon neurologic condition. Based on the gaps we identified, as well as previous studies and recommendations in neuropalliative care, we provide 9 recommendations to help neurology residency programs improve their teaching of primary neuropalliative care skills.