Clinical neurophysiology (EEG track) vs. epilepsy fellowship: Utility for future job options?

[MTBNeuro]

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Hi all,

I'm considering applying for a fellowship, with the goal of getting into one that's at least 2/3 to 3/4 EEG and the rest EMG. I genuinely enjoy both and my residency allows for substantial exposure to EMG if we want it, but I'd like more exposure to EEG to be able to do both as an attending and also to read EEGs remotely. I would not be doing it with the goal of running an EMU or doing IOM.

With this in mind, do companies for remote EEG reading generally have a hard requirement for an epilepsy fellowship or do they also generally hire people who do CNP? I've spoken with a couple of my co-residents and they've said it doesn't really matter but I just wanted to get some more insight.

Thanks!

 

[Telamir]

Remote IONM is typically in more demand than purely remote EEG reads.

 

[Neurogeneral]

I dont think remote EEG reading companies care whether you have a CNP or an epilepsy fellowship. Having said that, many do require you to be able read neonatal/pediatric ICU EEGs, which may be difficult to become competent enough at if doing a mixed EEG/EMG fellowship.

 

[Telamir]

Oh yeah. Even with an adult epilepsy fellowship doing peds is a little rough. Teenagers and older kids are fine but neonatal and super young kids are hard if you don’t do them often.

 

[MTBNeuro]

Oh yeah. Even with an adult epilepsy fellowship doing peds is a little rough. Teenagers and older kids are fine but neonatal and super young kids are hard if you don’t do them often.

Is it difficult to find work with a remote company if you don't do peds?

 

[Telamir]

Don’t know. Haven’t tried. Most ads do say they want someone to read peds.

Approached some folks at an AAN meeting and the first thing they asked was if I read kids.

 

[Neurogeneral]

I have seen at least a couple remote EEG reading jobs requiring competency in reading pediatric eegs. In a dedicated EEG CNP or epilepsy fellowship, you should be able to get enough exposure to pediatric eegs to be able to read them well enough. I suppose it is possible to even get enough exposure in a mixed eeg/emg fellowship but you would have to go out of your way to do that - like coming into the eeg lab on your own time and reading or going through the ped eegs throughout the fellowship year.

 

[MTBNeuro]

Don’t know. Haven’t tried. Most ads do say they want someone to read peds.

Approached some folks at an AAN meeting and the first thing they asked was if I read kids.

Are there any resources to even learn about these things? The info available online is next to nil. I'm gonna reach out to the epileptologists at my program today because there's just nothing out there.