The Department of Neurology provides adult neurology residency training to 16 residents in an ACGME-accredited program. Residents rotate at four major teaching hospitals: The University of Colorado Hospital, The Denver Health Medical Center, The Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and The Children's Hospital. The program's main campus is housed on the Anschutz Medical Campus. We work closely with the Child Neurology Program at the University of Colorado, which offers ACGME-accredited training to 6 residents.
Rotations provide a broad mixture of both inpatient and outpatient neurology. Experts in all subspecialties of neurology are represented in the department, including Behavioral Neurology, Multiple Sclerosis, Neuromuscular Disorders, Epilepsy, Stroke, NeuroIntensive Care, Neuro-ophthalmology, Movement Disorders, Neuro-oncology, Neuro-infectious Disease, and Sleep. Typical rotation assignments can be viewed on the resident schedule page. Residents are given increasing responsibilities as they progress through the program. Electives in all subspecialties and individually-designed electives are available during the PGY-3 and PGY-4 years.
Residents are required to complete a scholarly research project during their three years of residency, and elective time is available to do so. The project most commonly chosen is a clinical or basic science research project. Alternatively, some residents choose to research a single patient presentation or develop a patient series that provides new insight into neurologic disease or disease management. The scholarly research projects are presented each year by graduating residents during the Annual Departmental Research Retreat. Residents also participate in Quality Improvement projects each year, focused on an outpatient or inpatient quality issue.
Residents are evaluated by faculty after each monthly rotation. There are opportunities throughout the year to review additional evaluative feedback from medical students, as well nursing and other staff, to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the six core ACGME competencies residents are expected to master, including: patient care, medical knowledge, practice based learning and improvement, systems based practice, professionalism, and interpersonal skills and communication. Each of these competencies is integrated throughout the training program in various rotations and requirements. Residents are provided a handbook that reviews the competencies and how they are incorporated into training. Residents meet semiannually with the program director to review and assess training progress, well-being, and career plans. Each resident is assigned a mentor at the start of their training, and they are encouraged to develop additional mentorships with faculty in their field of interest or with faculty possessing unique attributes that will most help the resident thrive in the program.
Daily, weekly, and monthly conferences are abundant and provide residents the opportunity to participate in didactic and interactive learning sessions. The major conference time for residents is a 3 hour weekly session that occurs each Wednesday afternoon on the Anschutz Medical Campus. Residents have consistently preferred this weekly format, which allows all residents to gather for a session dedicated to the learning. The residents developed this format several years ago and it has continued to grow and develop into curriculum-based format with new, interactive and resident-run sessions including Residency In-service Training Exam reviews, Clinical Care Conferences, Case Presentations (“morning report” style) to the Chairman and subspecialists, and standard clinical and basic science didactic sessions. All residents attend the Wednesday afternoon conference and Department of Neurology Grand Rounds follows immediately afterward. Subspecialty and other specialized conferences are also available at all four major hospitals – see Teaching Rounds and Conferences.
Residents are encouraged to individualize their training throughout their residency. Our program’s culture is one that values developing an individualized training program to suit the resident’s ultimate career goals and that strives to build on the resident’s strengths while providing support for areas with room for growth and improvement. Common goals for each year of residency are provided on our website. Please explore our residency pages and meet our current residents.