Miscellaneous (Black)
The COVID‐19 outbreak has disrupted residency programs due to university and hospital priorities to address this emergency. Most research projects and clinical trials were temporarily stopped or postponed. The Resident and Research Fellow Section (RRFS) of the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) decided to assess the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on neurology training. All EAN RRFS members were invited to fill out an online questionnaire of 40 items concerning their clinical involvement during the COVID‐19 emergency, and the impact of the pandemic on their training. Of the 227 RRFS members who completed the questionnaire, 222 were from Europe and, from those, 111 were from Portugal, Italy or France. Responders highlighted that severe restrictions were implemented to face this pandemic, including reduction of inpatient beds, prohibition of in‐person visits and limitation to hospital access for patients’ relatives. This was accompanied by an increase in email correspondence and phone calls with 50% of countries using telemedicine to reach outpatients. Seventy‐nine percent of the respondents felt that the pandemic will likely have a serious impact on their training and career. The authors concluded that the pandemic lead to a disruption of neurology activities, including medical training and research. The longer term impact of these changes remains unknown, but may change the way neurology practice and training will be organised for future generations.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ene.14696
