r/neurology

Hello all,

I am looking for advice to pass neurology boards this year.

I did Cheng-Ching and NYKN last year and had absolutely no idea where the boards came from. All the questions felt alien. I felt RITE was easier than the boards (77 percentile on RITE). Any strategies for last two months? I will be working too and missed the boards by 4 points last year. Doing True learn and Cheng Ching this time. Cheng Ching's child neurology biochemistry is too vast. Any way that you guys would suggest for efficient and effective learning/ any heavily tested topics that should be focused more? Confidence has completely shattered since the results, I am trying to be optimistic and learn as much as I can. Never had issues clinically.

Thanks in advance.

What helps someone stand out during their interviews or applications? Additionally, have you ever given interviews or accepted any applicants with red flags, and if so, what allowed you to look past their red flags?

I joined medschool with aim of being a neurologist one day, yet now I feel a bit lost. I graduated as an MBBcH student a couple of months ago, ranked 3rd in medschool and completed both usmle steps (P, 255).

But here is the confusing part, I love programming and have gone through a ton of projects for 12yrs (mostly non-medical, web development) and I even went as far as learning academic skills data structures, algorithms, DBs, etc.

I always hoped I will be able to leverage this passion alongside clinical insights (most engineers don't get there) to significantly alter care for neurology patients. This is apparently impossible in my home country anyways.

So I went for research, learnt both primary and secondary statistical analysis, scientific writing, and contributed to 14 projects (six are currently published), yet again feel this on its own is pointless (the only positive thing tho, cv-wise, is the few tools I built including a batch statistical conversion tool for meta-analysis).

So here I'm again feeling lost on how to achieve my original aim, should I just go for the traditional clinical pathway and postpone the integration part till after residency, find a research opportunity that combines both (can't find any so far, at least for an MD), or maybe there's a way to do both simultaneously.

Based on your experience, what would you recommend in my situation?

Curious if anyone has a script they use for patients who present with benign tingling sensations. The prototypic patient being 20-30s presenting with variable tingling of the face, arms and legs. Exam, labs, MRI and EMG normal.

I’ll often review benign reasons for tingling and provide a lot of reassurance, but often these patient’s remain dismayed and frustrated.

Hello everyone!

I'm an MBBS student with a strong interest in neurology, particularly NeuroAI, neurotechnology, and clinical neuroscience research. I'm looking for opportunities to collaborate with researchers, clinicians, or fellow medical students working in these areas.

I can contribute to research by helping with:

• Literature reviews
• Systematic reviews and data extraction
• Basic statistical analysis in R (I'm actively improving my skills)
• Manuscript writing and editing
• Reference management
• General research coordination

I'm eager to learn, contribute consistently, and be part of a collaborative research team. My long-term goal is to build a strong research profile in neurology while working on meaningful projects with international collaborators.

If you're working on a neurology-related project—or know of a group looking for motivated students—I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to contribute.

Please feel free to comment below or send me a DM. Thank you!

I'm teetering between neuromuscular and epilepsy fellowship. I think I'm primarily interested working in the outpatient private practice setting but I'm unsure what epilepsy jobs look like in the community setting.

- Are most epilepsy positions tied to hospitals that have EMUs? Are non-academic epilepsy jobs rare?

- What do your schedules look like? How much inpatient vs outpatient?

- How much EEG do community epileptologists read (assuming 1 year fellowship)? Is it 1 day a week reading EEGs, 1 week a month, etc?

- Are you happy with your job? What are the biggest drawbacks?

Thanks in advance!

I’m a medical student and have always been interest in neuro. Today I saw a young girl with a new cervical spinal cord injury from a sledding accident. She has some sensation and had so much pain trying to change her suprapubic catheter, and was leaking during the visit and wetting herself which frustrated her and made her cry and get very upset. All the stories they told of her were about her being an active kid and sneakily picking tomatoes from someone’s garden my the handful and walking around plopping them in her mouth and busting her chin open falling down as a rambunctious kid and my heart was just breaking for her over and over and over. I had to come home and cry for like 45 minutes about the visit because it’s just so horrible that she has to face all of these challenges and it’s so unfair and her life is so difficult. I’m just feeling so distressed and sad for her but I also just love neuro bc I feel very moved by the patients and feel like they have some of the realest worst problems which motivates me to want to spend my life helping. I just need to get past the sadness. Does anyone else relate or deal with this?

I see that there is a similar post in here and several comments point to continuum, so I will give that a try (although I don’t even know how to navigate that site). I’m curious if there is a library, similar to Amboss, for Neurology topics. Emergencies, workout, pathophysiology, etc.

Seeing the innovations with neurotech like a BCI from UMich recently implanted in a pt with LMN disease and all the stuff coming out of WUSM, UCSF, etc., I am wondering what will neurologists have to contribute to this scene currently and in the future?

Any neurologists currently doing consulting for neurotech or signing pts up for neurotech clinical trials? Give examples?

signed,

future neuron

I’ve noticed that quite a few psychiatry residents go into interventional pain, but it’s relatively uncommon among neurology residents. Given that interventional pain focuses heavily on spine-related conditions, I would have expected it to attract more neurologists. Why isn’t that the case?

What are the best resources available for studying for the neurocritical care boards upcoming in fall 2026?

How procedural is neurology residency? Is it realistic to complete neurology residency and practice general neurology while doing few or no procedures?

Hello Neurons,

Has anyone worked with AccessTelecare recently? How was your experience?

Hi, it's very early as I am only a rising PGY2 but just pondering future goals and plans. My ultimate goal is to return to the state I grew up in to practice general neurology. I don't want to post the location cause it would be very, very easy to identify me lol but I can share via DM. But for context, it would be in a suburban-ish community with rural (VERY rural) outreach clinics. There are maybe a dozen neurologists in my home state and 95% of them practice in the main city where I will return. There is no nearby or reasonably accessible academic center.

So, my question: would it be worth completing a 1 year neurophysiology fellowship (it's 1 year at my home program and I would want to stay here) in the setting of my above stated goals?

Alternatively, I could perhaps tailor my elective time over the next three years to EEG/EMG and would that be good enough? I have 6 weeks this year, 8 weeks in PGY3, and 10 weeks during PGY4. On top of that, I have 2 weeks of inpatient long term EEG monitoring, 6 weeks of NM clinic (which can include EMG), and 6 weeks of epilepsy/EEG reading clinic over the next couple years. So, a minimum total of 9 months geared towards EEG/EMG over the next 3 years.

Hey everyone,

My name is Zoey Martin-Lockhart, and I'm a PhD candidate in anthropology and MS student in Epidemiology at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC).

I am posting to invite you to participate in an anonymous survey survey on the experiences of disabled medical students and doctors. This is for my medical anthropology dissertation and epidemiology MS thesis.

The survey is open to anyone in the MD/DO track who has (or might have) a disability/chronic illness, is a US or Canada resident, and at least 18.

What does survey participation involve?

• The survey is completed online. You may access it here. 
• It takes about 15-30 minutes to complete.
• It is anonymous and all questions are optional. The survey does NOT collect name, email, IP address, etc.
• At the end of the survey, you may opt in to a drawing for $50 gift cards (one recipient will be selected for every 50 survey completions).
• Survey content: The survey link will first direct you to a consent form. The survey includes questions about: your disability/chronic illness identity, disclosure, and accommodations; your engagement with community and mentorship around disability in medicine; and your wellbeing. Questions are primarily rating scales.

* This research has been approved by the UIC IRB (Protocol #2022-0346-MOD002)

More info:

• You can learn more about me and my research here, where I share an FAQ, more detail on methods, and IRB approval letter. My sort of goofy "digital business card" has more info about me.
• I've been part or disability-in-medicine groups for a long time, including DM3P, SMADIE, and MSDCI, and I do a podcast for the Docs With Disabilities Initiative.
• Questions? I am glad to address any questions or concerns you may have. Please feel free to reach out to me via email (zmarti6@uic.edu) or phone (801 477-7083). You may also contact my PhD adviser, Dr. Gayatri Reddy (gayatri@uic.edu) or MS adviser, Dr. Supriya Mehta (supriyad@uic.edu).

Warmly,
Zoey

My attending told me this today.

He said it would have been 2013-2014, residency starting in 2014.

It was a "highly ranked" neurology program.

Students were given a pill to take before the interview. He wasn't sure what it was and neither was the classmate. All the students took them, apparently.

He wasn't sure way. He said one classmate who took the pill suggested it was some sort of research study.

My theory is that it was an (unethical) test with a placebo to see which students are willing to just do something incredibly stupid when an authority figure demands it.

Does anyone have any insight into this? SURELY if it happened people must have talked.

EDIT: I was told that the student that experienced this announced it really awkwardly during a 4th year class meeting at a medical school in Missouri, if that adds any more context. If this truly happened, out there, some 100 students at a medical school in Missouri learned about it this way.

Hey guys!
I’m going to be rotating at comprehensive neurology services for the month of August and I need to know a few things about the rotation and the accommodation provided.

Please help me out if you’ve rotated there by answering a few queries!

European graduate here, curious about fellowship programs and their general accessibility to someone who has not worked in the American system at all.

Hi,

Speech pathologist working in community settings. I'm hoping to tap into the neurology brain trust here.

I want to know when does "normal aging" become "this person needs a neurology review"?

Older patients frequently present with quieter voice, slightly slower eating/drinking, and signs of reduced pharyngeal strength. Easy to chalk up to sarcopenia, presbyphagia, social isolation — the usual culprits. But I've had a handful of patients where I've pushed for neuro review and been vindicated (early MSA, PSP, early MND/ALS), and others where I've probably under-referred.

What I'm specifically asking: Is there a sign, symptom, or cluster of features that makes you, as a neurologist, immediately raise your suspicion for early progressive neurological disease — particularly from an SLP's vantage point (voice, swallowing, speech, cognition)?

There are the obvious things I already watch for but I want to know what you see. Especially:

1. Is there a single finding that makes you say "yep, this isn't aging, get them in"?
2. Are there features SLPs are well-placed to catch that neurologists don't always see early enough?
3. Any tips on how to write a referral that gets triage priority rather than a 9-month wait?

Appreciate any perspective from neuros, neuro nurses, or allied health colleagues working in this space.