Neuro rotation: inpatient, outpatient or mixed?

[st2205]

About to set up a neuro rotation but will most likely opt for mixed, with the inpatient also encompassing consults. I'm just not sure how to break it up on mixed to be beneficial: 50/50 split? I was thinking maybe 3 weeks outpatient and 1 inpatient, but I'm not sure if also doing the consults would be beneficial to do 2 weeks in the hospital. I'd like to get the most out of this rotation, especially considering we only get 2 months in residency.

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[IAmAUser]

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[OldPsychDoc]

Had a month of each as resident.

Outpatient--did lots of neuro exams, discussed lots of patients with attendings.

Inpatient--placed a lot of Dobhoff tubes to keep patients alive while we got their MRIs to confirm that their hemiparesis was caused by their strokes, got their echos to check out their atria, waited for their carotid dopplers to get done, started them on Plavix or coumadin, and watched the social worker call nursing homes....

So glad I chose psychiatry...

 

[billypilgrim37]

Neuro consults are an excellent way to learn neurology. Neuro inpatient wards are more painful than anything else known to man. Some places have separate stroke services so that the inpatient team actually gets things that are interesting, but that's fairly rare. All pediatric neurology is interesting. I never did outpt adult neuro besides some subspecialty clinics which ranged from awesome (sleep) to torturous (stroke clinic--1 hour interviews to decide on a dose of aspirin, rinse, repeat).

 

[fiatslug]

Neuro consults are an excellent way to learn neurology. Neuro inpatient wards are more painful than anything else known to man. Some places have separate stroke services so that the inpatient team actually gets things that are interesting, but that's fairly rare. All pediatric neurology is interesting. I never did outpt adult neuro besides some subspecialty clinics which ranged from awesome (sleep) to torturous (stroke clinic--1 hour interviews to decide on a dose of aspirin, rinse, repeat).

Word. Pure misery for four weeks, right down to the narcissistic a-hole chief on the service. Arrive at 5 am to pre-round on a ward full of GCS=4 patients, then repeat rounds with said a-hole chief, then repeat with attendings (a much less miserable lot than their residents). Absolutely the worst experience of my residency, with no learning whatsoever.