Neurosurgery Education and Research Virtual Group
https://www.neurosurgerytraining.org
The Medical Student Neurosurgery Training Center (MSNTC) was founded in 2020 after two successful years of Medical Student Neurosurgery Training Camps, the first of which was offered at Weill Cornell Medical College in 2018. Training Camp founder and and a Weill Cornell graduate, Ryan Radwanski, founded Brain and Spine Group Inc. in 2019 and later formed the MSNTC in 2020 to streamline and operationalize the delivery on-site and virtual content for brain and spine education.
As students and trainees around the globe increasingly consume and interact with their medical education in a virtual format, industry and academic entities will need to adjust and innovate their offerings to meet this need. In its first year, the MSNTC has coordinated multiple live virtual seminar and webinar sessions, journal clubs, and training camps, as well as increased its educational resource footprint through the Brain and Spine Report, YouTube video library, global events calendar, and other mediums. The MSNTC is at the forefront of Neurosurgery education innovation and aims to be the international leader in junior Neurosurgery clinical training.
Virtual mentorship and research programs are becoming increasingly popular to facilitate education and career development for students and residents. We review virtual research initiatives for early trainees in neurosurgery and describe our effort to expand access to resources and shared objective mentorship (SOM) via the novel Neurosurgery Education and Research Virtual Group (NERVE).
Methods: A systematic review of neurosurgical programming delivered via a virtual platform was conducted using PubMed, Embase, and Scopus databases. Identified articles were screened. Those meeting prespecified inclusion criteria were reviewed in full and examined for relevant data. Data analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel, and means and standard deviations were calculated. Descriptive analysis of NERVE characteristics was also performed.
Results: Of the 2438 identified articles, 10 were included. The most common (70%) implementation style was a webinar-based lecture series. The least common (10%) was a longitudinal curricular interest group. Of the total NERVE cohort, 90% were first generation medical students and 82% attended institutions without home programs. Survey results indicated 73.8% had contributed to at least 2 research projects throughout the year.
Conclusions: There is a scarcity of virtual neurosurgical resources which facilitate SOM opportunities for trainees. In our systematic review, NERVE is the only multi-institutional virtual initiative aimed at increasing access to neurosurgical education and research opportunities for the purpose of SOM among early trainees from disadvantaged backgrounds. This highlights the group's niche and potential impact on increasing diversity in neurosurgery, improving trainees' career development, and facilitating future resident research productivity 1)