Digital shift 2020 – a year in review

More than triple the healthcare professionals turned to Neurology Academy for information, inspiration, encouragement and confidence during the unprecedented challenges of 2020 - and the Academy worked tirelessly to ensure they felt equipped to give the best possible care to those living with a neurological condition.

Neurology Academy embraced the digital revolution hastened by the coronavirus pandemic. Its immediate and adaptive response to both need and circumstance has opened up access to education, information and support across more professionals in a wider variety of roles, than ever before.

Healthcare professionals have undoubtedly been exposed to a plethora of new and difficult experiences since March last year, and yet they have maintained an incredible tenacity to provide the best support and care possible to those they serve in their communities.

COVID-19, despite the incredible challenges it has presented to our global society, has stimulated positive change and spurred transformation in the way we work, at every level - and this can be seen clearly in the day to day working practices, the everyday innovations, that healthcare professionals have instigated in their local areas.

During 2020, Neurology Academy saw an incredible surge in the numbers of healthcare professionals seeking to enhance their knowledge, develop their skills, and adapt their working to improve outcomes for people with neurological conditions. More than triple the number of healthcare professionals attended one of our courses or webinars in 2020 when compared to the previous year, and the viewing numbers of our on-demand material continue to climb.

Within the first month of lockdown, Neurology Academy had already hosted five webinars, addressing a range of topics from remote management to biomarker analysis and disease-modifying therapy use in MS during the pandemic. Indeed, to date we have amassed more than 15,000 post-live views over our 49 webinars featuring 94 different speakers (find out more and view the infograph here).

A thorough and careful transformation of our MasterClasses ensured that as many courses as possible were able to go ahead. As a result, attendance to our flagship courses increased by 50%, and 13 courses were held - just two less than in 2019. Adapting to social constraints and putting stringent measures in place, many delegates were able to attend in person.

However, a number of delegates attended who would otherwise have been restricted through travel or time constraints, or care responsibilities. By opening up our MasterClasses to operate as a hybrid model where both in-person and virtual delegates - and speakers - were welcomed.

Alongside our wealth of webinars, on-demand material, and our hybrid MasterClasses, enhanced by a unique online 'learning portal', Neurology Academy has also developed some entirely virtual courses, including a seven session course on Mild Cognitive Impairment with a built-in quality improvement project, and a two module, 12 session course on Parkinson's Tailored Management.

Finally, our website itself has become infinitely more accessible and usable, with more written, video and audio content than ever before. We have documented over 90,000 new website users in the past year and have seen a substantial 192% increase in our overall web traffic, with over 300,000 page views across Neurology Academy's site.

The pandemic has inadvertently opened up education and information to a far wider audience, meeting needs and acting responsively to them, in a variety of formats. Our education is now accessible to more people than ever, and we intend to continue to push our limits, trial new methods, and ultimately transform more people's lives, through our unique form of education.