Neurophobia Among Medical Students: Is Virtual Teaching the Answer?

Objective: Neurophobia is well recognized as dissuading medical students from neurocentric specialties and limiting the success of neurology and neurosurgery teaching at medical school. Past studies have associated neurophobia with deficiencies in medical education. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of medical students' confidence and perceived level of knowledge in recognizing the following neurosurgical and neurological emergencies: ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, status epilepticus, subarachnoid hemorrhage, increased intracranial pressure, acute hydrocephalus, spinal cord injury, cauda equina syndrome, and traumatic brain injury.