Learn Neuropsych : Learning Modules

About

Welcome to Learning Neuropsychiatry

As part of psychiatry residency training in the United States, the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education mandates that residents complete two months of full-time clinical neurology training. This requirement reflects the pervasive scientific and clinical overlap between neurology and psychiatry. In researching how this requirement is implemented by residency programs, it became clear to us that many psychiatry residents complete neurology rotations in settings that may not be high yield for their learning needs (e.g. the neurologic intensive care unit), with limited exposure to neuropsychiatric disorders, and without didactics tailored to the neurology they may practice in psychiatric settings. We believe the potential deficits in neurology training for psychiatrists is a serious problem. Disorders at the interface of neurology and psychiatry—dementia, for instance—are common, debilitating, and expensive.

With funding from the American Board of Neurology and Psychiatry, we developed this electronic curriculum to ensure psychiatrists get directed training in neuropsychiatric disorders to complement their neurology training. We tailored the curriculum to conditions psychiatrists may care for in clinical psychiatry settings—neuropsychiatric disorders with significant cognitive, affective, and behavioral manifestations. These modules can be completed remotely online on a range of devices. Topics include the neurocognitive exam, cognitive screening tests, neurocognitive disorders, and movement disorders.

As we were creating the modules, we realized that while this was made for psychiatry residents, we think this would also be useful for neurologists as well as primary care doctors who take care of patients with dementia. To that end, this curriculum is open to an interdisciplinary range of clinicians who have interest in and provide care for patients with neuropsychiatric disorders.

Each module takes about 25-35 minutes to complete. We recommend completing them in the order as listed though feel free to complete any modules that are interesting to you! And please give us feedback so we can update the modules to best meet all learner needs.

Modules

Modules and Learning Objectives

Module 1: Introduction and Neurocognitive Exam

Recognize the importance of neurology and neuropsychiatry skills for psychiatrists and other clinicians.
Describe the major aspects of the neurocognitive exam.

Module 2: Language Exam and Aphasias

Differentiate the components of the language examination.
Differentiate the major clinical features of Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasia.
Identify the components of the MMSE and MOCA exam.

Module 3: Cognitive Screening Tests: How to Correctly Perform and Interpret Them

Identify the components of the MMSE and MOCA exam.
Contrast the strengths and limitations of the MMSE and MOCA exams.

Module 4: Introduction to Dementia

Formulate a diagnostic workup for a patient who presents with chronic cognitive symptoms.
Identify common medications that may cause cognitive symptoms.
Differentiate mild cognitive impairment and dementia.

Module 5: Alzheimer’s Disease

Describe the tests available for diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Contrast the clinical features of Alzheimer’s Disease with vascular dementia.
Describe treatment options for patients with Alzheimer’s Disease.

Module 6: Dementia with Lewy Bodies

Describe the core clinical features of Dementia with Lewy Bodies.
Differentiate Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Parkinson’s Disease Dementia.
Identify the treatment options available for neuropsychiatric features of Dementia with Lewy Bodies.

Module 7: Frontotemporal Dementia

Describe the clinical features of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia.
Identify the treatment of the neuropsychiatric symptoms of a patient with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia.

Module 8: Rapidly Progressive Cognitive Impairment

Produce a differential diagnosis for a patient who presents with rapidly progressive cognitive impairment.
Contrast the diagnostic workup for a patient who presents with rapidly progressive cognitive impairment in comparison to a patient who presents with chronic cognitive impairment.
List the clinical features of Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease.

Module 9: Huntington’s Disease

Describe the clinical features and treatment of Huntington’s Disease.
List the major categories of hyperkinetic movement disorders.

Module 10: Autoimmune Encephalitis

Produce a differential diagnosis of a patient who presents with acute onset confusion.
Describe the clinical features of anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis.

Welcome to Learning Neuropsychiatry

Registration

Learning Neuropsychiatry

Nuri Jacoby, MD

Daniel Shalev, MD

Nicholas Sullivan

Jonathan Howard, MD

Ciara Caglio

Art Gevorgyan, IT

Frasier Jacoby-Shalev