We developed a comprehensive and experiential curriculum to enrich migraine clinical knowledge and confidence for NP learners.

There is a shortage of neurologists, which is expected to increase to 19% by 2025. In many regions throughout the US there are not enough physicians to meet the demand for care. Fortunately, an increasing number of nurse practitioners (NPs) have interest in both headache and neurological clinical practice, which could fill the access gaps within the workforce.

A Plan Do Study Act model was implemented by a group of nurse educators at a private university’s school of nursing. A comprehensive competency-based curriculum was designed by nurse educators with expertise in the field of neurology and primary care, and included an asynchronous learning module of 180 minutes, followed by a 100-minute simulation activity. Learners were given pre-and post-questionnaires to evaluate their clinical knowledge and confidence with migraine diagnosis and management. A two-tailed paired t-test was used to evaluate change pre- and post- implementation.

43 NP learners completed the curriculum and the pre- and post-questionnaires. Learners reported encountering migraine patients monthly in clinical settings (Likert score 2.07 [pre] to 2.19 [post] p-value <0.001). Learners demonstrated improvement in guideline-based preventive and acute migraine treatment. After didactic education and simulation, most learners felt very confident in their ability to diagnosis and care for the migraine patient (Likert score 2.00 [pre] to 2.61 [post] p-value <0.001). Both pre- and post-questionnaires suggest a need for additional preceptors and mentors with skill sets in the treatment and management of headache and migraine.

A competency-based curriculum that incorporates simulation-based learning is effective for enhancing the clinical knowledge and confidence of NP learners caring for patients presenting with migraine. More neurology preceptors and mentors are needed to grow the pipeline of NPs entering the neurology workforce.