Post a 2 yr epilepsy fellowship, is general neurology practice (including stroke) viable?

[TNKay]

Hello all,

I am a PGY-2 neurology resident in the US (a non-US IMG) and intend to do a 2-yr epilepsy fellowship in Canada. However, in my understanding, in Canada, it's tough to come by subspecialist-specific jobs (except stroke), and the demand is for general neurologists.
My question is that if I do a 2 yr epilepsy fellowship post-residency, does it diminish my general neurology (including stroke) practice skills?

Now I know that a 1-yr- clinical neurophysiology fellowship is the most ideal for general neurology practice, however, Canada does not have these fellowships and for personal reasons, I intend to move to Canada after residency.

Also, if someone has a better insight into the Canadian health system in terms of neurology practice, I would appreciate their input as well!

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[xenotype]

No idea about the Canadian system. For most jobs in the US epilepsy and CNP are interchangeable depending on amount of EEG/sEEG experience attained in the CNP fellowship. For some hospitals and companies in the US you will need to have acute stroke experience within the last 24 months (specific case logs) to get credentialed to perform emergency neurology coverage (including acute stroke) thus a 2 year epilepsy fellowship could be an issue, but I have no idea about the Canadian system. If the Canadian system would accept a US based 1 year epilepsy or CNP fellowship as equivalent this is obviously better. I personally do not think an extra year of reading high volume EEG makes a difference and the only real utility of the extra year would be getting better at IOM/sEEG/MEG if available, and during which one's acute neurology skills would atrophy a bit outside of epilepsy cases.

 

[TNKay]

No idea about the Canadian system. For most jobs in the US epilepsy and CNP are interchangeable depending on amount of EEG/sEEG experience attained in the CNP fellowship. For some hospitals and companies in the US you will need to have acute stroke experience within the last 24 months (specific case logs) to get credentialed to perform emergency neurology coverage (including acute stroke) thus a 2 year epilepsy fellowship could be an issue, but I have no idea about the Canadian system. If the Canadian system would accept a US based 1 year epilepsy or CNP fellowship as equivalent this is obviously better. I personally do not think an extra year of reading high volume EEG makes a difference and the only real utility of the extra year would be getting better at IOM/sEEG/MEG if available, and during which one's acute neurology skills would atrophy a bit outside of epilepsy cases.

Thanks for your detailed reply! It was really helpful!