Neurology rotations linked to stronger epilepsy diagnostic confidence among UAE medical students

Medical students in the United Arab Emirates who had completed a neurology rotation reported substantially greater confidence in diagnosing epilepsy than peers who had not, according to a cross-sectional survey published in BMC Medical Education. Among 201 undergraduate medical students across seven UAE medical colleges, only 24 percent described themselves as confident in diagnosing epilepsy overall, yet the gap between training stages was stark: 45.2 percent of clinical-stage students reported confidence compared with just 7.8 percent of preclinical-stage students. When the researchers restricted the comparison to respondents with complete data for training stage and confidence, a sample of 199 students, the difference between stages remained pronounced.

Clinical-stage students had roughly ten times the odds of reporting diagnostic confidence relative to preclinical students, with an odds ratio of 9.7 and a 95 percent confidence interval of 4.4 to 21.8, a statistically significant association with p less than 0.001. Training stage alone, however, did not tell the whole story. In multivariable logistic regression, which adjusts for other measured factors, completion of a neurology rotation was independently associated with higher self-reported diagnostic confidence, carrying an odds ratio of 4.1 with a 95 percent confidence interval of 2.1 to 7.9 and p less than 0.001.

The model's discriminative performance was modest, with an area under the curve of 0.65, indicating that rotation exposure helped separate confident from non-confident students but left considerable variation unexplained. Knowledge outcomes revealed persistent misconceptions that clinical exposure had not fully erased. Only 47 percent of respondents correctly identified epilepsy as a treatable condition, and just 26 percent believed that people with epilepsy can live independently.

These figures suggest that even among future physicians, misconceptions about epilepsy's manageability and the social lives of people living with the condition remain widespread at both stages of training. The study's authors frame these findings carefully. Because the design was cross-sectional and all measures were self-reported, the results should be interpreted as indicators of perceived preparedness rather than demonstrated competence.

A student who feels confident after a neurology rotation may still make diagnostic errors, and the survey cannot establish that rotations cause confidence, only that the two were associated in this sample. Epilepsy is one of the world's most common neurological conditions, affecting more than 50 million people. Despite advances in care, stigma and misconceptions persist globally and can influence both help-seeking behavior and clinical management.

In the UAE, limited data had previously been available on how medical students' epilepsy-related knowledge, attitudes, and diagnostic confidence vary across training stages, which motivated the study. The authors argue that the moderate associations between training phase and knowledge outcomes support earlier and more structured neurology and epilepsy teaching, paired with objective assessment of skills rather than reliance on self-reported confidence alone. The survey population skewed heavily female, at 83 percent, and included 57 percent preclinical and 43 percent clinical students, a distribution that reflects the participating cohorts rather than the broader student population.

The authors acknowledge important limitations. The modest sample size and uneven institutional representation across the seven colleges may limit generalizability to all UAE medical students, and the self-reported, single-time-point design cannot track how confidence or knowledge changes as individuals progress through training. Even so, the pattern is consistent: clinical exposure, particularly through neurology rotations, was associated with higher perceived diagnostic confidence, while misconceptions about epilepsy treatability and independent living persisted across both preclinical and clinical stages, pointing to specific targets for curriculum reform.

Subject of Research: Epilepsy knowledge, attitudes, and diagnostic confidence among preclinical and clinical medical students in the UAE

Article Title: Health and social awareness and attitudes toward epilepsy among preclinical and clinical medical students in the United Arab Emirates: a cross-sectional study

Article References: Mohamed, M. A., Houni, A. E., Shalaby, R. H., Al Ahbabi, M., Rahmatullah, M., Shajahan, J., Mumtaz, M., Mansour, O., Alaa, R., & Ismaiel, M. (2026). Health and social awareness and attitudes toward epilepsy among preclinical and clinical medical students in the United Arab Emirates: a cross-sectional study. BMC Medical Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-10233-7

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12909-026-10233-7

Keywords: epilepsy, medical education, neurology rotation, diagnostic confidence, UAE, cross-sectional study, stigma, medical students, BMC Medical Education, clinical training, Health, social