Skip to main content

Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine Clerkship

Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine is a six-week clerkship that includes inpatient and ambulatory experiences as well as a week working in an inpatient rehabilitation facility. This clerkship fosters students’ abilities to obtain a neurologic history, perform the neurological exam, and deepen their understanding of rehabilitation services.

Clerkship Objectives

Professionalism (PR)

  1. Demonstrates honesty, integrity, respect, humility and compassion in all interactions (PR1)
  2. Uses ethical principles and reasoning to guide behavior and decision-making and safeguards patient privacy, confidentiality, and patient autonomy. (PR2)
  3. Recognizes biases and implements strategies to mitigate their effects. (PR3)
  4. Develops and implements strategies to improve well-being and resilience in order to support personal well-being and optimize professional performance. (PR4) 
  5. Completes duties and tasks in a thorough, reliable, and timely manner, and demonstrates accountability for mistakes and improvement efforts. (PR5) 

Patient Care and Procedural Skills (PC)

  1. Gathers a complete, relevant, accurate neurologic history appropriate to the patient’s age and clinical presentation, incorporating collateral information when indicated. (PC1) 
  2. Gathers a complete and accurate history on a patient presenting for to a PM&R encounter with an emphasis on the patient’s functional status and goals for rehabilitation. (PC1)
  3. Performs a focused, thorough, and reliable neurologic examination on patients who are alert and cooperative as well as those with altered levels of consciousness. (PC2)
  4. Recognizes patients with acute neurologic emergencies, including suspected acute ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke, and recommend appropriate initial evaluation and management. (PC3)
  5. Synthesizes musculoskeletal and neurologic examination findings to localize the most likely site of nervous system pathology. (PC4)
  6. Creates and prioritizes a neurologic differential diagnosis based on lesion localization, clinical time course, history, and diagnostic data. (PC4)
  7. Recommends and interprets hypothesis-driven diagnostic testing in the evaluation of patients with neurologic illness. (PC5) 
  8. Formulates therapeutic management plans for acute and chronic neurologic conditions, incorporating principles of rehabilitation, health promotion, and disease prevention. (PC6)
  9. Describes the risks, benefits, and procedure of a lumbar puncture. (PC7)  
  10. Incorporates neurologic diagnosis and functional context, along with patient and caregiver needs, values, and preferences, into patient-centered neurologic care. (PC8) 
  11. Collaborates effectively within multidisciplinary neurologic and rehabilitation medicine care teams to monitor patient progress and ensure safe, effective care. (PC9) 

Medical Knowledge (MK)

  1. Describes the etiology, physiology, pathogenesis, epidemiology, risk factors, genetics, and clinical course for neurologic diseases and common conditions treated in rehabilitation settings. (MK1) 
  2. Demonstrates knowledge of how preventive strategies, health behaviors, and social determinants influence neurologic health and disease across populations. (MK1) 
  3. Synthesizes clinical information during rehabilitation and therapy encounters to assess the impact of patient’s clinical condition on function and anticipates how rehabilitation interventions may influence future functional outcomes. (MK2)
  4. Analyzes alterations in nervous system structure and function to localize lesions within the nervous system and explain neurologic disease manifestations. (MK2)  
  5. Analyzes and synthesize evidence from the scientific literature to inform clinical reasoning and decision-making in neurologic patient scenarios. (MK3) 

Interpersonal and Communication Skills (IC))

  1. Communicates effectively with patients and caregivers using patient-centered language, empathy and active listening skills to enhance the therapeutic relationship. (IC1)
  2. Communicates clearly and effectively with team members using both verbal and nonverbal communication, and synthesizes information to produce clear, accurate and organized admission and progress notes. (IC2)
  3. Collaborates effectively with rehabilitation professionals in the care of patients and identifies and reflects on their roles and expertise. (IC2)
  4. Collaborates effectively with members of the neurologic health care team by adapting roles to support effective care coordination and patient transitions across clinical settings. (IC2)
  5. Shares constructive feedback with neurology team members and supervisors in a professional and respectful manner. (IC5)

Practice-Based Learning and Improvement (PL)

  1. Demonstrates self-directed, evidence-based learning by identifying neurologic subspecialty knowledge gaps and reviewing the relevant scientific literature. (PL1)
  2. Appraises neurologic scientific literature and synthesizes evidence to apply evidence-based principles in the analysis and management of clinical cases. (PL2)   

Systems-Based Practice (SP)

  1. Incorporates social, cultural and community-level influences into clinical reasoning to support equitable care for patients with neurologic disease. (SP1)  

REQUIRED CLINICAL ENCOUNTERS

Diagnosis
Participate in the care of patients with the following diagnoses:		 Outpatient or
Inpatient
Cognitive impairment, acute or chronic (Examples include: dementia, agnosia, altered mental status, aphasia, apraxia, dementia, developmental delay, toxic-metabolic encephalopathy, dyslexia) O,I
Neurologic emergencies (Examples include: Acute stroke, acute hemorrhage, TIA, acute vision loss, brain death, CNS infection, Guillain-Barre, Encephalopathy, head trauma, increased intracranial pressure, neuromuscular respiratory failure, status epilepticus, spinal cord injury or dysfunction) I
Transient neurologic event (Examples include: seizures, dizziness, vertigo, migraine, sleep disorder, syncope, TIA) O,I
Sensory dysfunction - hyperesthesia, sensory loss, paresthesia (Examples include: central causes of sensory disturbances, neuropathy, plexopathy, radiculopathy) O,I
Focal or diffuse motor disturbance, acute or chronic (Examples include: ataxia, tremor, dystonia, dysarthria, dysphagia, gait impairment, weakness, incontinence) O,I
Pain, acute or chronic (Examples include: back pain, facial pain, headache, neck pain, neuropathic pain, thalamic pain)
 O,I
Procedures and Skills Outpatient or
Inpatient
None