- Joined
- Aug 22, 2005
- Messages
- 3,077
- Reaction score
- 3,293
At the very least, yes, Mayo residency fulfills the preceptorship part. I would argue the bigger advantage is I highly doubt Mayo EMGs consist of mostly carpal tunnel syndrome studies--you will probably see a lot of pathology at Mayo you won't see elsewhere. The 200+ EMGs required during PM&R residency doesn't necessarily mean that residents will actually be that well trained in EMG. Up until recently, those 200 EMGs could be mostly observed EMGs--now we're required to perform at least 150 of the 200 EMGs we participate in. In addition, at some programs you may be only doing part of the study (there may be a few residents working together, one doing NCS, the other EMG, for example), so one study at one program doesn't mean as much experience as a study at another program. And as I mentioned, if the majority of your 200 studies are "r/o CTS" then you're missing out on a lot of learning. I imagine Mayo is getting a lot more odd stuff not as commonly (if ever) seen elsewhere. Add in the unique classroom education portion of the EMG course, and I think that's the real advantage that Mayo offers.
However, I'm not sure if residents from all other programs will need to do a fellowship. Two of our recent grads are trying to get their 200+ independent EMGs done right now so they can sit for EMG boards. We only have 4 months of dedicated EMG rotation. With our dedicated EMG lectures and case studies added in (which are separate from those 4 months), it's possible that adds up to 6 months total, though I'm really not sure. (Apparently reading counts too per the website--I don't know how that gets tracked...) I didn't know about the preceptorship part until today, so I never asked the recent grads that are trying to get EMG boarded whether our program fulfills that requirement (I guess it would if they used elective time to do more EMGs).
If those 6 months have to be continuous (which isn't clear on the website), then I think you're right that any non-Mayo grad would need to do a fellowship. Hopefully my colleagues looked into that...
Maybe the requirements aren't as black and white as the website makes out. I have been told that Mayo structured its curriculum to give that 6-month block for the very purpose of allowing their students to be EMG board eligible. It's hard to believe that it is a coincidence. However, I was also told that residents have left the program board eligible which by the letter of the law is not possible. So either the rules aren't black or white, or lots of people have unrealistic expectations about becoming EMG board eligible.