Objective: To determine a movement disorders specialist’s impact on resident education, as assessed by the Resident In-Service Training Examination (RITE) scores.

Background: Neurology resident knowledge is partly evaluated with the annual RITE, the scores of which correlate with performance on the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) Certification Examination (Juul, 2013). Fourteen neurology residency programs in the United States do not have a movement disorders specialist on faculty (ERAS, 2016). In relation to resident education, the benefit of having a departmental movement disorders specialist has not been evaluated. This assessment was performed at a medium sized neurology program with 20 residents, previously lacking a movement disorders specialist.

Methods: An analysis was performed on the University’s neurology residents’ RITE scores from 2012 through to 2015, the period covering the year prior to and 3 years following a movement disorders specialist joining the faculty. Resident scores for clinical questions on adult movement disorders were evaluated and compared to those for general clinical adult neurology. This analysis was performed for each post-graduate year as well as for the residency program as a whole.

Results: Residents consistently scored higher on the clinical questions concerning movement disorders during the years that a movement disorder specialist was present on faculty. Including all residents, the mean score increased from the failing grade of 43% (prior to the arrival of the movement disorders specialist) to an average of 74% over the subsequent 3 years. In comparison, scores in overall clinical adult neurology were relatively unchanged (63% to 66%) for the same time period.

Conclusions: The presence of a movement disorders specialist on faculty was associated with an improvement in RITE scores in the area of movement disorders. A similar increase was not seen in general clinical adult neurology. The selective improvement in scores may be related to the residents’ increased exposure to movement disorder patients and/or didactics provided by the department’s new specialist. These findings suggest that the presence of specialists on faculty may benefit resident knowledge, as ascertained by the RITE.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-impact-of-a-movement-disorders-specialist-on-resident-knowledge-as-measured-by-the-resident-in-service-training-examination-rite/