ENLS Validation Study Shares Early Promising
Results, Is Enrolling Participants
By Aimee Aysenne, MD, MPH; Chitra Venkatasubramanian MBBS, MD, MSc; Lara Zimmermann, MD; and Kristina O’Phelan, MD
Emergency Neurological
Life Support (ENLS) is
analogous to the nervous
system what Advanced
Cardiovascular Life
Support (ACLS) is to
the heart and Advanced
Trauma Life Support
(ATLS) is to the trauma
injured patient. Prior
to the development of
the 14-module ENLS, a
standardized framework
and curriculum for
the “golden hour”
of neurocritical care
management for neuro
emergencies did not exist.
The Neurocritical Care
Society supported ENLS
development in 2012,
and the latest 3.0 version
was released in October
2017. In keeping with the inclusive spirit of the Neurocritical
Care Society, the ENLS course is designed with a broad target
audience in mind, including all health care providers who care for
neurocritical patients in the first hour: paramedics, ED physicians,
neurosurgeons, neurologists, critical care physicians, registered
nurses and advance practice providers, pharmacists, medical
students and resident/fellow trainees. ENLS has recently been
translated into Spanish and Japanese.
ENLS continues to grow in popularity, and reviews have been
extremely favorable.
The ENLS Validation Study (VS) was designed with the intent of
formally evaluating the course as an educational tool. The study is
formally approved through the Western IRB.
Our goal is completion by 100 participants. Participation in
ENLS-VS is limited to initial certification. All study materials,
including consent forms, are available online. The target study
group includes all health care providers who may encounter and
provide care for patients with neurological emergencies in the first
hour of their emergency care. In addition to the standard ENLS
course (either live course or self-study online), study participants
are asked to complete three additional closed book online tests
consisting of seventy questions. The first is a pre-test, the second
is an immediate post-test after course completion and the third is
a six-month follow up to measure retention of knowledge. Study
participants have the added benefit of getting a two-year ENLS
certification free of charge on completion of all parts of the study.
To date, 89 participants have enrolled in the validation study
with 46 participants completing the pre-test, ENLS certification
and the first post-test. While all health care providers are invited
to participate, resident physicians make up most of the group
(71 percent). Others include attending physician (3 percent),
registered nurses (19 percent), advanced practice providers (6
percent) and pharmacists (1 percent). The residents are PGY-1
(59 percent), PGY-2 (30 percent), PGY-3 (8 percent) or PGY-4 (3
percent) from general surgery, emergency medicine, neurology or
neurological surgery residency programs. Of the participants who
completed both the pre- and post-test, the mean pre-test score
was 62.9 percent, and mean post-test score was 77.6 percent. The
improvement in scores was statistically significant (77.6 percent vs.
62.9 percent, p<0.005). More information can be found at: http://
www.neurocriticalcare.org/Education-NCS-OnDemand/ENLS/
Validation-Study.
We are seeking additional participants for the ENLS Validation
Study. Pharmacists, APPs, nurses, paramedics: We need
your participation, as well. If you are interested in ENLS
certification free of charge, please email Aimee Aysenne, MD,
MPH, at aaysenne@tulane.edu or Lara Zimmermann, MD, at
llzimmermann@ucdavis.edu.
Aimee Aysenne,
MD, MPH
Chitra
Venkatasubramanian
MBBS, MD, MSc
Kristina
O’Phelan, MD
Lara
Zimmermann, MD
17
