Identifying Gaps in Trainee SUDEP Knowledge: Fabio Nascimento, MD

"I felt like although we talk—and I hear people talk about SUDEP all the time—we don’t usually talk to patients about it in real day-to-day life. I rarely did at the beginning of residency. I did maybe a little more than my peers did just because I had that interest, but it still wasn’t enough.”

A recently conducted study using an emailed survey found that less than half of adult neurology trainees, both national and international, were educated about sudden death in epilepsy (SUDEP), raising questions about the training and education currently in place for these individuals. Although most respondents were familiar with the term, a substantially smaller number were familiar with its risk factors, and even fewer had any formal education about SUDEP.

Lead author Fabio Nascimento, MD, is no stranger to taking an analytical approach to addressing gaps within epilepsy education. In December 2020, he published a study identifying a lack of consistency in teaching and evaluating residents on electroencephalogram (EEG) during residency, while also presenting EEG education barriers and possible solutions.

Nascimento, a clinical fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, sat down with NeurologyLive to discuss the motivation behind the study, and the importance behind identifying these gaps in epilepsy education. He shared his insight into the findings and his concerns about these education and communication gaps.