Neurology Topic Wish List

 I am starting my Neurology rotation tomorrow and am very excited to be back on the inpatient floor and out of the OR! Instead of writing a blog entry today, I wanted to compose a Neurology wish list of topics I would like to cover while on this rotation. I doubt that I will get through them all but I hope that by the end of four weeks, I will have seen most of these problems and have a better understanding of the patho-physiology and treatment. I will keep coming back to this list and checking off topics as I go. Some I have already covered!

Topics that I hope to cover...

Disorders of consciousness

• Mental status and/or behavioral changes  X
• Memory complaints 
• Pain in the head, neck, and back
• Numbness, paresthesias, and neuropathic pain 
• Weakness and clumsiness 
• Dizziness and vertigo
• Disorders of language
• Neurogenic bladder and bowel
• Vision loss and diplopia
• Dysarthria and dysphagia
• Abnormal movements
• Sleep-related complaints

Understand the patho-physiology and treatments for the following neurological conditions:

•  Ischemic stroke  X
• Hemorrhagic stroke  X
•  Subarachnoid hemorrhage X
• Subdural and epidural hemorrhage
•  Structural coma
• Metabolic encephalopathies X
• Neuro-toxicology and vitamin deficiencies
• Meningitis and encephalitis
•  Dementia and memory disorders
•  Seizures and epilepsy (including status epilepticus) X
•  Syncope
• Vertigo
•  Headache disorders (Migraine, cluster, tension, analgesia-overuse, neuralgias)
•  Neck and back pain
•  Myelopathies
•  Radiculopathies (including cauda equina syndrome)
• Nerve compression
• Neuropathies
• Multiple Sclerosis and other immunologic diseases (sarcoid, SLE, paraneoplastic disorders
•  Movement disorders (Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, Huntington’s disease, tics, medication-induced dyskinesias)
• Neuromuscular disorders (Myasthenia, Lambert-Eaton, botulism)
•  Myopathies
•  Brain tumors
•  Head trauma

I am excited and nervous to begin!! It has been awhile since I have done a full physical exam on a patient (Anesthesiology for the past month...need I say more?) and I am especially concerned about doing a thorough Neuro exam. I hope to get back on board, learn some new skills, strengthen some old ones and overall grow in my medical knowledge this month so I will be a better intern this June!