Conferences

Morning Report is a clinical conference that occurs Mondays-Thursdays to discuss admissions and consults of the previous night. This conference is directed by the Chairperson, as well as other faculty, and discusses medical, social and pathophysiological aspects of admitted patients. Attendance is required by all residents, medical students and rotating house staff from other departments.

Grand Rounds is a weekly clinical conference that takes place every Friday in conjunction with the Department of Neurosurgery and basic neurosciences. There is a second hour of didactics which varies between a Triple "N" (Neurology/Neurosurgery/Neuroradiology) Conference, Morbidity and Mortality and a subspecialty case conference. The PGY4 residents all have an opportunity to present a case at M&M conference.

Noon conferences occur daily (Monday-Thursday) with organized discussions of subspecialty neurology including stroke, epilepsy, movement disorders, neuromuscular diseases, etc. These conferences are presented to the residents and medical students by the respective experts on these topics. Other multidisciplinary conferences including Tumor Board, Epilepsy Surgery Conference, and Neuro-Immunology Case Conference occur on a weekly basis. The conferences are scheduled by the chief residents, the Residency Program Director and the Chairperson of Neurology.

The department participates and organizes continuing neurological education programs for community physicians and neurologists.

Finally, and most importantly, bedside clinical teaching to house staff and medical students takes place on a daily basis by Department of Neurology faculty.

Simulation Based Education

Our neurology residents participate in multiple simulation based workshops at the William Maul Measey Institute for Clinical Simulation and Patient Safety. Incoming PGY2 residents participate in the “Neuroemergencies Bootcamp,” where they learn how to manage neuroemergencies under the guidance of our neurocritical care faculty. They also have an opportunity to complete a lumbar puncture workshop. The learners practice positioning and landmark palpation on standardized patients, and then complete the procedure using a simulated model.

Another summer simulation course focuses on assessing patients in a “rapid response” simulation course. All residents participate and are divided into groups and after a brief didactic session, participate in the simulation based workshop and receive feedback by our neurocritical care faculty.

Dr Cincotta, our movement disorder specialist, has designed a course on functional neurologic disorders. Our residents gain experience in performing a neurologic exam on standardized patient with a functional neurologic disorder, as well as communicate the diagnosis.

We have also partnered with Gift of Life to offer education for residents on the communication of brain death. During this simulation the residents have opportunities to practice discussing the diagnosis of brain death, with a simulated family member, and then undergo debriefing.