Just wanted to bump this thread and to give an accurate update, now that I am an actual neurology resident. Attention med students, this is what you will need for neuro rotation!
Given that I've been doing this for over 8 months and have developed chronic neck pain from carrying all my equipment in my white coat (in another life, I was a pediatric resident and only carried a stethoscope that I was constantly wiping grubby children's fingerprints off of), I have found some things indispensable:
1. Reflex hammer, I use a Tromner reflex hammer. Any hammer that has a nice weight to it will be able to elicit reflexes accurately. Just remember, it's all in the wrist!
2. Tuning fork at 128 Hz. This only costs a few bucks and is valuable for checking vibratory sensation. I only have this with me when I am on call though, too heavy otherwise.
3. Paper clips or tongue depressors, these are usually plentiful in the hospital. Bend them to test pinprick sensation and then dispose. Please do not litter your resident room with them.
4. Eye testing, this I find most residents are lacking the right equipment when on call and if you just had an OKN (optokinetic nystagmus) strip or red desaturation test, it could make morning report much less painful and make you look like a superstar. But then again, no one really carries these items. Instead, I just download some apps to my iPhone. I use:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/okn-strips/id496001751?mt=8
I am pretty sure these types of apps are available for Android, etc...and there are multiple versions. I've been able to easily assess for hysterical blindness and optic neuritis without having to waste time with the panoptic peering into the "souls" of my patients (nonetheless, I have to work on my technique).
Happy Neurology Survival! Does anyone else have other essentials they would like to add?