Structure
The clinical neurology clerkship is a 4 week third-year core clerkship where students are scheduled at various sites including:
- The inpatient ward service at UPMC Presbyterian
- The inpatient consults service at UPMC Presbyterian
- The Neurovascular intensive care unit at UPMC Presbyterian
- Inpatient stroke team at UPMC Presbyterian and Mercy Hospitals
- The VA Medical Center
- Shadyside Hospital
- UPMC Children’s Hospital
- Neurology outpatient clinics
- Passavant Hospital outpatient clinic
- Inpatient service at UPMC Passavant Hospital
- Magee Women’s hospital/women’s neurology service
- Magee Women’s Hospital Outpatient MS/Neuroimmunology Clinic
Taking a complete history and performing a complete, organized neurologic examination by the end of the rotation is a main objective of the clerkship. Cigdem Isitan-Alkawadri, MD the clerkship director, or Katherine Cobb-Pistick, MD, assistant clerkship director, will demonstrate this process at orientation. The distributed syllabus will outline clerkship goals and objectives while explaining how they will be assessed; information about required forms, texts, websites and conferences will either be available on the Navigator or Elentra online course site. Online resources are also listed available at the medical school health science library.
Content
Didactic lectures will be given by faculty and residents – topics include:
- Neuroradiology
- Neuromuscular Diseases
- Stroke
- Movement Disorders
- Pediatric Neurology Jeopardy
- Seizures
- Headache
- Multiple Sclerosis
- NBME subject examination review
- Neurology emergency cases
Medical students will perform an OSCE neurologic examination at the end of orientation week, obtain consent for a lumbar puncture from the standardized patient and complete a lumbar puncture on a mannikin, entering spinal fluid orders and writing a procedure note. Students will spend one morning attending discharge rounds on our inpatient neurology unit, shadowing nurses and working with case managers to understand social determinants of health issues at the time of hospital discharge. In addition to attending a neuropathology small group session, students take an evening of stroke night call with the senior resident; this enables the students to observe patient sign-out and the acute evaluation and management of stroke patients.
Evaluation
The standard University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine clinical evaluation form is distributed through Medhub to all faculty, fellows, and residents with whom each student has worked, and they submit them as they see fit. This evaluation encompasses clinical knowledge, clinical skills, data reporting (oral and written, clinical reasoning, problem-solving, and differential diagnosis), professionalism and communication. Midway through the rotation, a faculty member or resident will complete a mid-clerkship evaluation for each student; this includes feedback as well as student self-reflection about their progress. Additionally, faculty and residents observe a complete patient history and physical examination for each student. There is also an EMR note review exercise; students are required to submit one to twos note during the rotation (for which they receive formative feedback) and a final using a validated grading template. Students take the NBME neurology clerkship exam at the end of the clerkship.
If there are any questions, please contact Cigdam Isitan-Alkawadri, MD director of the neurology clerkship and electives.