The Department of Medicine

Neurology Residency Program Curriculum

The Adult Neurology residency training program is a 4 year, categorical program, beginning with a PGY-1 Internal Medicine year and 4 months of Inpatient Neurology that includes a weekly Resident Outpatient Continuity Clinic (ROCC). Every year, residents have a total of four weeks of vacation time (divided in 2-week blocks).

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Resident Outpatient Continuity Clinic (ROCC)

PGY-2, PGY-3 and PGY-4 residents have a total of 44 ROCC per year, which allows for residents to see and follow patients with diverse neurological diseases as initial visits and to follow up patients throughout their training.

As part of the ROCC and during outpatient clinic rotations, PGY-2-PGY-4 residents will have increasing responsibilities in terms of providing care for their patients (return calls, refills, answer patient portal for their patients, following up on labs/results) and working closely with the staff (MAs, nurses, front desk staff) to ensure that recommendations and workup recommended is scheduled. ROCC has telehealth capabilities and residents will have the opportunity to learn to deliver care using different modalities.

Electives

PGY-3 and PGY-4 Residents have ample opportunities to do elective rotations, including spending extra time (must have completed previous required rotation) in one of our specialty clinics or inpatient services (neurocritical care).

Residents with interest in in research can choose from opportunities to do clinical or basic science research rotations with faculty within the division or in cases, rotations can be arranged with faculty at UT-Knoxville. Residents also have the opportunity to do clinical electives in sleep medicine, pain medicine and palliative care.

Teaching Curriculum

Didactic Sessions

Noon Conferences, Pat Summitt Clinic Case Discussion Session, Resident Didactic Sessions and Journal Club are hosted at the Pat Summitt Clinic (PSC) Conference Room. The room has capabilities for residents to log in remotely, which allows for residents that are away from the Main Campus (Weisgarber Clinic/UT-N, ETCH, Elective Rotations, etc) to join the different educational activities and to participate in discussions. Noon Conferences and Grand Round are recorded and residents who are unable to attend can engage in asynchronous learning during their Individual Learning Time.

Individual Learning Time
Residents have 1 hour per month allocated specifically for individualized learning time. This is dedicated time for residents to work on their required research project, do literature search, work on presentations or publications, prepare their journal club, watch recorded noon conferences/Grand Rounds, and/or work on their annual learning plan schedule.

Grand Rounds Case Presentation
To aid residents in developing skills needed for the scholarship of dissemination, each resident is required to present a clinical case twice a year, immediately following Grand Rounds. The resident with the help of a faculty mentor if needed, decides upon an interesting or difficult clinical case. As a requirement of the presentation, the resident is expected to use information technology to find, evaluate and incorporate data from the scientific studies for these presentations.

Monthly Clinical Review Conference (MCRC)
This is a monthly clinical conference, where a case is presented to either identify improvements in care, or cases where outstanding efforts that resulted in a good outcome for the patient should be recognized. These sessions allow us to establish a balance between praising excellence, while using less than perfect situations, to continuously improve patient care.

Morbidity and Mortality Neurology Conference (M&M-Neuro)
Morbidity and Mortality Neurology Conference occurs twice a year. The goal for M&Ms is to provide a forum where residents, faculty and staff can explore and analyze the management details of a particular case where either morbidity or mortality occurred. A resident and a faculty member will be assigned to present the case and provide the guidelines for analysis. M&Ms are learning opportunities that will ultimately result in improvement of patient care.

Research Opportunities

The Pat Summitt Research Lab is a neurosystems research lab with state-of-the-art technology to assess and conduct basic science research in the field of Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia. UTMC has established collaborations with Volunteer Research Group (VRG) located on the Main Campus for conducting clinical trials including trials for ALS and Migraine. There are also options for collaboration and involvement in basic science research through the University of Tennessee Neuroscience Program at UTK.

Office for Clinical Trials (OCT)
The OCT supports the Medical Center’s primary mission through the successful execution of privately sponsored clinical trials. The OCT comprises a single office where adequate and qualified leadership and staff are available to provide support and ensure compliance with the highest standards through internal and external audits and strict quality control practices. The support provided includes access to experts in the field of clinical trials research.

Office of Research Support (ORS)
The ORS serves as an important resource for GSM Faculty, Fellows, Residents, and staff participating in research activities. The office provides support and guidance to facilitate the continued advancement of all GSM research programs. For clinical studies, ORS ensures that the research yields high-quality data and adheres to local and federal regulations associated with the use of human research subjects and/or the use of their data. A plethora of services and/or training is available for GSM Faculty, Residents, Fellows, and staff engaging in Translational and Clinical Investigator-Initiated Research, including but not limited to standard operating procedures, CITI training, investigator training and support, IRB submission, research and data coordinator resources, quality assurance and monitoring, biosafety policy and training, aid with identifying grant opportunities, grant submissions and management of pre- and post-award accounts. Residents have access to a full-time Biostatistician for consultation.

There are ample collaborative options with the University of Tennessee Neuroscience Program (UT-K), including the opportunity to work with Basic Science Researchers. There are well-established ongoing collaborations and research opportunities between UT Neurology and The Oak Ridge National Laboratories.