Neurology
-
Functional disorders are one of the most common diagnoses in neurologic practice, but this is not reflected in current classification systems. The 11th revision of the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) in 2017 offers an opportunity for these disorders to appear within both neurologic and psychiatric categories for the first time. We discuss the rationale for this proposal and highlight the potential benefits for health professionals and patients.
-
The prevalence of burnout is higher in physicians than in other professions and is especially high in neurologists. Physician burnout encompasses 3 domains: (1) emotional exhaustion: the loss of interest and enthusiasm for practice; (2) depersonalization: a poor attitude with cynicism and treating patients as objects; and (3) career dissatisfaction: a diminished sense of personal accomplishment and low self-value. ⋯ Burned-out physicians harm patients because they lack empathy and make errors. Studies of motivational factors in the workplace suggest several preventive interventions: (1) Provide counseling for physicians either individually or in groups with a goal of improving adaptive skills to the stress and rapid changes in the health care environment. (2) Identify and eliminate meaningless required hassle factors such as electronic health record "clicks" or insurance mandates. (3) Redesign practice to remove pressure to see patients in limited time slots and shift to team-based care. (4) Create a culture that promotes career advancement, mentoring, and recognition of accomplishments.
-
Editorial Comment
Declining stroke mortality in young adults: hope and concern.
-
To characterize a cohort of patients with the signs and symptoms of posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES), but with clinical and radiologic involvement of the spinal cord. ⋯ In light of the already wide definition of PRES, we propose a new syndrome named PRES with spinal cord involvement (PRES-SCI). Clinicians should suspect PRES-SCI when patients with PRES have neurologic signs referable to the spinal cord, extreme elevation in blood pressure, MRI lesions that extend to the cervicomedullary junction, or grade IV hypertensive retinopathy. These clinical scenarios should prompt a cervical spine MRI to help guide patient management decisions and prognostication. When clinicians evaluate longitudinally extensive spinal T2 hyperintensities, they should consider PRES-SCI, which, if diagnosed, would spare patients the morbidity of a standard myelitis workup and empiric treatment.