E-learning has become commonplace in medical education. Incorporation of multimedia, clinical cases, and interactive elements has increased its attractiveness over textbooks. Although there has been an expansion of e-learning in medicine, the feasibility of e-learning in pediatric neurology is unclear. This study evaluates knowledge acquisition and satisfaction using pediatric neurology e-learning compared to conventional learning.

Residents of Canadian pediatrics, neurology, and pediatric neurology programs and medical students from Queens University, Western University, and the University of Ottawa were invited to participate. Learners were randomly assigned two review papers and two ebrain modules in a four-topic crossover design. Participants completed pre-tests, experience surveys, and post-tests. We calculated the median change in score from pre-test to post-test and constructed a mixed-effects model to determine the effect of variables on post-test scores.

In total, 119 individuals participated (53 medical students; 66 residents). Ebrain had a larger positive change than review papers in post-test score from pre-test score for the pediatric stroke learning topic but a smaller positive change for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, childhood absence epilepsy, and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. Learning topics showed statistical relationship to post-test scores (p = 0.04). Depending on topic, 57–92% (N = 59–66) of respondents favored e-learning over review article learning.

Ebrain users scored higher on post-tests than review paper users. However, the effect is small and it is unclear if it is educationally meaningful. Although the difference in scores may not be substantially different, most learners preferred e-learning. Future projects should focus on improving the quality and efficacy of e-learning modules.

Many neurosurgeons pursue graduate degrees as part of their training. In some jurisdictions, graduate degrees are considered a necessary condition of employment in academic neurosurgery. However, the relationship between possession of a graduate degree and eventual research productivity is not well established. We used bibliometric methods to analyze publications from academic Canadian neurosurgeons, with an emphasis on level of graduate training.

All neurosurgeons holding academic appointments at Canadian institutions from 2012–2016 were included. Over that time frame, Scopus was used to quantify the number of papers, number of citations, 5-year h-index and 5-year r-index, CiteScore, authorship position, and paper type (clinical or basic science). Publication output was compared between neurosurgeons grouped as MD-only, MD-Masters, or MD-PhD.

In total, 2557 abstracts from 131 Canadian neurosurgeons were analyzed. We found that MD-Masters neurosurgeons published significantly more total papers, clinical papers, and first/last author papers than MD-only neurosurgeons. MD-PhD neurosurgeons had the same findings, in addition to more basic science papers, in journals with a higher CiteScore, 5-year h-index, and 5-year r-index than both other groups. These results were preserved even with significant outliers removed. There was no difference if graduate degrees were obtained before or after starting residency. There was no correlation with career length and number of recent papers published.

The attainment of a graduate degree has an important association with future publication productivity for academic neurosurgeons. These data should be useful for hiring committees considering the value of graduate degrees from applicants for positions in academic neurosurgery.