Curriculum

The department retains faculty with expertise in stroke, epilepsy, movement disorders, neuromuscular disorders, multiple sclerosis, headache, dementia, neuro-critical care, general neurology and neuro-imaging. Faculty oversee clinical and research programs in these subspecialties. Our residency program offers individual mentorship and guidance to foster well-trained and proficient clinicians qualified to practice neurology or to move into clinical or research fellowships.

Our inpatient experiences are divided into a Vascular Neurology Service (all things stroke) and General Neurology Service (everything else). Both of these services are a combination of primary service inpatient and consultation services. Each service has a combination of a PGY2 resident and a senior (PGY3 or PGY4) resident. The resident conducts consults on inpatients and emergency department patients and fellows patients admitted to Neurology. Within the emergency department, residents assist in managing patients with acute stroke who may be candidates for interventions including intravenous TNK and/or thrombectomy.

A two week rotation in neurocritical care medicine provides residents with exposure to the management of patients with mass occupying lesions, intracerebral hemorrhage, spinal cord disorders, acute neuromuscular emergencies and neuro-trauma.

During the outpatient subspecialty rotation, residents evaluate patients in clinics for stroke, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, movement disorders and neuromuscular diseases. They gain required early experience to outpatient subspecialty rotations, which helps the resident identify early areas of interest for future electives and career choices

During PGY-3, greater emphasis is placed on subspecialty neurologic care. The resident becomes familiar with the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of neurologic disorders and becomes competent to independently assess and devise interventions for these disorders.

While rotating on the general and vascular services, the resident assesses patients on inpatient services and in the emergency room at UF Health Jacksonville.

During the sleep medicine rotation, residents amplify their ability to interpret polysomnography. In addition, residents gain further experience providing care to patients with a variety of sleep disorders in the outpatient Sleep Center.

The one-week neuropathology rotation is a component of overall neuropathology education, which also includes neuropathology interactive lectures, muscle and nerve biopsy conferences and brain cutting sessions.

The one-week research rotation aims to make the resident competent to write a research study proposal and complete the study over the course of his/her training. In addition, the rotation provides education on the role and responsibilities of a site primary investigator in a multi-center clinical trial. Following completion of this rotation, the resident has opportunities to attend periodic research seminars throughout the remainder of his/her training. Residents also participate, as sub-investigators, in departmental clinical trials.

The neurodegenerative diseases rotation is outpatient oriented. This rotation incorporates exposure to patients with movement disorders and demyelinating diseases. Under the supervision of our movement disorder specialists, residents evaluate and treat patients with Parkinson’s disease, Parkinsonian syndromes, dystonia and hyperkinetic disorders. In addition residents have exposure to Deep Brain Stimulation and botulinum toxin treatment of dystonia. Under the supervision of our multiple sclerosis attendings, residents have opportunities to diagnose and to treat patients with demyelinating and autoimmune disorders of the central nervous system.

Residents continue to have an outpatient continuity clinic. During this year residents provide care to patients with general outpatient neurologic issues and also patients with disease specific disorders.

The goal of PGY-4 is to broaden knowledge about common and uncommon neurologic disorders. By the end of this year, residents are expected to be competent to practice neurology independently. Emphasis is placed on critically reviewing neurologic literature in order to optimize care of patients.

The resident also develops supervisory and teaching skills, as they manage the vascular neurology team, general neurology team, and help to organize departmental conferences. Residents also actively engage in team-based quality improvement initiatives.

During the psychiatry rotation, the resident is a member of the psychiatry consult team. Residents have opportunities to evaluate patients on inpatient and outpatient services at UF Health Jacksonville who are experiencing acute psychiatric issues and emergencies, as well as chronic psychiatric conditions.

The neurorehabilitation rotation is performed under the supervision of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation physicians on their consultation service. The neurology resident assesses patients with neurologic disorders and works under the supervision of a physiatrist to devise and monitor rehabilitation care plans.

During elective time residents have the opportunity to explore, in more detail, a specific interest. These electives allow the senior resident to develop an educational curriculum that meets his or her future interests and goals. Residents can elect to re-rotate through any of the core rotations noted above. Additional electives offered include:

• Outpatient Stroke
• Interventional Vascular
• Mobile Stroke Treatment Unit / Telestroke
• Neurosurgery
• Pain medicine
• Behavioral neurology / Dementia
• Headache
• Neuroimmunology
• Neuro-oncology
• Neuro-ophthalmology
• Neurotrauma
• Board Prep (PGY4)

In conjunction with the program director, residents can create an elective that suits an educational need not outlined above. Opportunities to spend time conducting research are also available.

Conferences

Teaching conferences are incorporated into the curriculum, with didactics scheduled 12-1pm every weekday. These conferences complement and enhance the learning experience that is provided by resident clinical service. Our conferences are in a modified block format, taking advantage of consecutive lectures to build on knowledge, and incorporating pre- and post-testing to track gains and areas needing further review. We also incorporate patient-focused, interactive weekly sessions on imaging and EEG review: Neuroradiology rounds on Tuesday mornings (multidisciplinary review of neuroimaging on admitted patients) and EEG Reading Fridays (reviewing EEGs on admitted patients with our epileptologists).

• Acute Care Block: Stroke, Epilepsy (including status epilepticus), and Neurocritical care
• Subspecialty Block: Focusing on outpatient subspecialties (Neuromuscular, Movement disorders, Neuroimmunology / Multiple Sclerosis, Dementia, Headache, Neuro-Otology, Neuro-Ophthalmology, etc)
• RITE Review Block
• Advanced Topics and The Business of Medicine Block
• Boot Camp June: For rising PGY2s, run by senior residents and faculty.

Residents receive training in managing neurological emergencies, breaking bad news and patient safety at the UF Center for Simulation Education and Safety Research (CSESaR)