EEG Training Lacking

EEG (Electroencephalography) is critical to epilepsy diagnosis.  It is the primary test to determine if someone has epilepsy or not.  If the EEG is misread, it often leads to a misdiagnosis of seizures and epilepsy.  According to the article “EEG Training for Neurologists is Inadequate,” there is a lack of education in EEG reading.  In most medical education programs, it is not required for neurology residencies, but offered
as an elective.  Good programs do require it, but this by no means is the standard.

By chance, I came across a newsletter by the International League Against Epilepsy’s Commission on Asian and Oceanian Affairs that addressed this issue. In the November 2014 issue, page 14, there is a summary of the Indian Epilepsy Society’s 9^th EEG Workshop which took place on November 29-30, 2014. 

The theme for the workshop was “‘Case Based Basics to Advanced EEG.”  They focused primarily on “practical aspects, including the basic EEG aspects, EEG reading, EEG monitoring in the ICUs, Video EEG during pre-surgical evaluation and intracranial monitoring.  All the sessions were based on case discussions and emphasis was on practice oriented small group sessions.”

In a nutshell, the workshop discussed in depth all the aspects of learning to effectively read an EEG, and to put it in practice using case studies.

We need these workshops here.  But more importantly, we need to incorporate EEG training into the curriculum as required coursework for neurologists in training.