Curriculum

PGY-1

The main goal of your PGY-1 year is to establish a solid background in internal medicine. Your rotations will include general medicine inpatient at University Hospital and at the VA, MICU and electives. We recommend electives in Cardiology, Rheumatology and Endocrinology, as there is a great deal of clinical overlap of neurology with these subspecialties.

Early in the year you will rotate for two weeks on the Stroke Service in Neurology and two weeks on the General Neurology Service. This will introduce you to your peers in the residency and will provide some basic knowledge and skill you will apply in later rotations:  neurologic history and examination, basics of epilepsy and stroke management.

During the PGY-1 year you will spend 3 weeks on the Neuro-ICU service during the day time and then 2 separate  blocks on Neuro ICU Night Float (3 weeks total). You will work side by side during ICU night float with a PGY-2 Neurology resident. You will have 2 weeks of ambulatory neurology. After completing this year, you will be ready to hit the ground running in Neurology.

Internal Medicine

• Internal Medicine Residency

R-1 (PGY-2)

The R1 year brings immersion in clinical neurology. It is a busy and exciting year during which you will gradually become a neurologist.

You will rotate through each of the major neurologic services at University Hospital in 1-2 week blocks: Stroke, General, Pediatric Neurology and Neuro-ICU. You will have regular rests from inpatient clinical service in the form of assigned rotations in Neuroradiology, Psychiatry, Clinic, Elective and EEG.

Call

The Junior Neurology Admitting Resident (NAR) works from 12 noon to 9pm to help learn stroke codes with a senior resident in the Emergency Department, and cross-cover the ward services during the evening hours from 4pm to 9pm. You will have 6 1-week rotations on ICU-night float during which you cover all inpatients at UH

R1 residents take a 12-hour Saturday call shift (day or night) or a 12-hour Sunday daytime call roughly every 3 weeks.

You will have a 3 week rotation in Pediatric Neurology during your R1 year. This will prepare you to triage pediatric emergencies while on call.

After completing this year you will know how to recognize and manage neurological emergencies and will know the basics of stroke, seizure, multiple sclerosis and headache management.

R-2 (PGY-3)

The R2 year provides you with intensive experience with triage and treatment of neurologic emergencies as well as extensive opportunity to explore the sub-specialties and choose a fellowship.

During the R2 year you also take on more challenging leadership roles such as the Neurology Admitting Resident, General Night Float, Stroke Senior and University Hospital and VA Consult. During the consult rotation you will evaluate and treat patients with neurologic complications of systemic disease, anoxic brain injury, complex epilepsies, functional neurological disorders, autoimmune disorders of the CNS and severe neuromuscular diseases.You will also take charge of consult services at the VA, working one-on-one with the attending, supervising one or more medical students.

Senior resident call responsibilities are split between the R2 and R3 residents. As a senior resident you will take 12-hour Saturday call approximately 1 in 10 weekends and 12-hour Sunday call 1 in 10 weekends.

R-3 (PGY-4)

During the third year (R3) you will hone your organizational and leadership skills and develop confidence recognizing and treating a wide array of neurological diseases.  The capstone rotation of the residency program is Service Chief on the Inpatient General and Stroke Services. 

This challenging rotation provides you with experience supervising junior neurology residents, off-service residents, medical students and advanced practice providers. 

During your final year you will have the opportunity to fill gaps in your knowledge and experience by spending 2 weeks in the clinic working with subspecialty attendings in Movement Disorder and Dementia and another 2 weeks concentrating on Neuro-ophthalmology and Neuroimmunology. As you approach graduation, you will be an experienced, efficient and confident neurologist.

Lead Residents

In 2018 a committee of residents and faculty met to update the Chief Resident selection procedure.  In addition to supporting continued election of two supervising chief residents, the committee, recognizing the importance of leadership development for all physicians, initiated a program wherein all PGY-4  Neurology residents will assume one of “Lead” roles during their final year of training. In 2023 there was a revision of the roles of the senior residents to include a third chief resident and diversiy lead. 

The Chief Residents will have primary responsibility for supervision and scheduling but will also play a key role in education and will support their peers fulfill their leadership roles. The Chief Residents have administrative responsibility and authority for the smooth function of the residency program. The Chief Resident(s) are responsible for the fair assignment of call responsibilities and for keeping a record of such.  This includes emergency changes in assignments to cover service during sickness or absence and settling of disputes. The Chief Residents assist the PD/APDs with monitoring resident wellness, communicate resident concerns to program leadership and are the residents’ “go-to” resource for advice, concerns and support. The Chief Residents will keep the Program Director apprised of any major concerns. 

The Research Lead Resident schedules journal clubs and selects articles for discussion in these sessions. The Research lead resident helps arrange and promote research opportunities amongst their peers and sets up a Research Update forum every spring.  

The Quality Lead Resident plans and assigns root cause analysis training for each senior resident and serves as the leader for the quality projects from each class. The Quality lead is involved in hospital quality meetings and departmental qualities meetings.  

There are 2 Education Lead Residents who divide the duties of helping with conferences and medical student education.   They lead question based review sessions monthly and help with clinicopathologic correlation conferences. They arrange the RITE review schedule and help orient MSIII and MSIV students.  

The Recruitment/Onboarding Lead resident hosts and arranges interactions with potential applicants during the interview season as well as coordinating orientation activities for the incoming PGY1 residents.  

The Diversity and Inclusion Lead helps with planning the curriculum for our DEI conferences, attends DEI meetings for the department and hospital, and also acts as a liaison for DEI related resources. This resident is a point person for equity concerns as they arise.  

The Wellness lead arranges/coordinates the purchase and delivery of lunches for noon conferences four days a week. They set up a bimonthly wellness conference and assists with arrangements for social gatherings.