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Clinical Training
You will be an integral part of the epilepsy team and will
be responsible for seeing and evaluating challenging outpatients
in four one-half day clinics and managing patients on the Epilepsy
Monitoring Unit. During this time, you will care for patients on
the inpatient epilepsy monitoring and consulting service and see
patients in the epilepsy outpatient clinic and on the hospital consulting
service.
The schedule of clinical activities is designed to achieve a balance
between outpatient and inpatient care, and to ensure that you have
experience with different aspects of epilepsy care.
First Two Months
During the first two months, you will have the opportunity
to participate in the basic clinical neurophysiology (CNP) course. The course is a formal
didactic program covering all areas of clinical neurophysiology.
The anatomy, physiology, pathology and clinical neurophysiology
features of disease are emphasized, along with the technical aspects
of EEG and EMG techniques.
There will be testing in clinical areas of clinical competency
during this program. Upon successful completion of the basic CNP
course, you will relocate to Phoenix/Scottsdale to complete the
fellowship.
Second Ten Months
The remainder of your time will be spent at the Mayo Clinic
in Arizona working with the staff of the Comprehensive Epilepsy
Program. You will learn advanced techniques in daily EEG reading
sessions which will include routine EEGs, emergent EEGs, interpretation
of EEG utilizing intracranial electrodes including grids and depth
wires.
You will manage diverse patients and will participate in surgical
planning, including the use of intracranial grid and depth electrodes.
Determining who is an appropriate candidate for the vagal nerve
stimulator and understanding the programming of this device will
also be a part of your learning experience.
Although the curriculum is flexible, the majority of the time will
be spent in the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program with opportunities
to participate in other areas of neurophysiology as scheduling and
time permits.
Additional Training
Evoked Potentials
Fellows in the EEG laboratories have the opportunity to learn
about the techniques and interpretation of evoked potential studies.
This includes exposure to:
- Brainstem auditory evoked responses
- Pattern reversal visual evoked responses
- Somatosensory evoked potentials
Movement Disorders and Sleep Disorders
In the EEG laboratories you also can learn about techniques
for assessing movement disorders - including tremors, myoclonus,
seizures, botulinum injections and others. A rotation through the
comprehensive sleep disorders clinic in Scottsdale is offered as
well.
In addition to these opportunities, the possibility of completing
a second year of fellowship training may be offered.
Didactic Training
Clinical conferences, seminars, small discussion groups,
journal clubs and one-on-one instruction are all an integral part
of the Clinical Neurophysiology, EEG, Epilepsy Fellowship.
You will participate in monthly epilepsy teleconferences with Mayo
Clinic in Rochester . There also is a weekly multidisciplinary surgical
epilepsy conference in which you will participate.
You will assist in instructing of local fourth year medical students
and residents doing an EEG/Epilepsy rotation from other institutions.
You will have the unique opportunity to participate in academic
pursuits, such as lectures, resident and medical student teaching,
invited talks, clinical trials and drug studies.
Research Training
Your research opportunities at Mayo Clinic in Arizona are
outstanding. The hands-on clinical experiences in this fellowship,
combined with our highly trained laboratory and statistical support
teams, create an environment well-suited to scientific investigation.
An integral part of the Comprehensive Epilepsy program includes
specialty training in amytal testing, drug trials and other clinical
research projects. During this one-year fellowship, you likely will
have at least one first author publication.
Your participation and any research project will be dependent on
your professional interests and capabilities. Attendance at a national
neuroscience meeting will be available for original presentations.
Call Frequency
Your call schedule will vary by individual rotation. Mayo
Clinic follows the recommendations of the Accreditation Council
for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and complies with ACGME's
duty hour requirements.
Evaluation
To ensure that you acquire adequate knowledge and develop
your technical skills, your performance will be monitored carefully
during the course of your fellowship. You will be evaluated formally
by your supervising faculty member after each clinical rotation.
In addition, you will regularly evaluate the faculty and your educational
program to ensure that your needs are being met.
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