Global Teaching and Neurological Education of the World Federation of Neurology

About the speaker

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Grisold is a specialist for neurology and psychiatry. In neurology he has a background in neuropathology and neurophysiology. Special interests are general neurology, neurooncology, neuromuscular disease, education and patient related issues as pain, palliative care and advocacy. He is involved education, and has been the initiator of the UEMS European board examination in neurology.

He has experience in hospital practice, research and private practice. He has participated in EU projects on paraneoplastic syndromes. The scientific focus is the effect of cancer on the peripheral nervous system, in particular in peripheral neurotoxicity and the direct effects of cancer. He has authored and edited 30 books, and his pubmed count is presently 289.

In neuromuscular disease he has experience with autoimmune diseases, in particular myasthenia gravis and inflammatory neuropathies. He works in an interprofessional setting in diagnosis and treatment of mononeuropathies including imaging (ultrasound) electrophysiology and also plastic and reconstructive surgery.

He is involved in several international neurological societies and has organized several international neurological congresses. For the World Congress of Neurology  2013, in Vienna, he was the congress secretary. He is a trustee of the WFN since 2009 and was Secretary General from 2014-2021. Since 2022 he is the president  of the WFN.  His goals are the improvement of communication, the increase of impact of neurology worldwide, and the continuous evolution of the WFN in its global mission and role with an emphasis on educational projects.

Abstract

Training in neurology varies in many countries of the world concerning duration, content, and methods. These differences stem from historical development and cultural background, as well as differences in health systems, which require different profiles for practising neurologists.

Apart from practical learning, training curricula and the apprenticeship type models prevail. There is no doubt that time and experience count, but with the rapidly expanding developments in neurology, training curricula and teaching concepts have an increasingly shorter half-life.

The knowledge, skills, and core competencies which must be acquired during training need to be maintained lifelong and continuously updated and improved, and adapted to the specific needs of the population. It is an ongoing process of innovation and renewal.

In addition to the need for trainees and practising neurologists to accumulate new knowledge at a fast pace, we must invest in mechanisms to investigate and assess which skills and knowledge trainees need to acquire and also mechanisms to replace “old knowledge” with new (unlearning).

The WFN continues to set its sights on promoting and supporting education initiatives such as the expansion of the WFN Teaching Centres, the development of education on digital and online platforms, and the development of a global curriculum for the training of neurology, aiming for suggestions about teaching and training methods, taking into consideration differences in local needs and resources.