Transitional Year

AI: Acute Illness - Ambulatory Care
Card: Cardiology
ED: Emergency Department
Hem/Onc: Hematology/Oncology
ICU: Critical Care
MEDS: Hospital Internal Medicine
Neuro: Neurology
Ophth: Ophthalmology
Pali: Palliative Medicine
Rheum: Rheumatology
RSCH: Research
Valley ID: ID at Valley Wise Medical Center

Valley ID: ID at Valley Wise Medical Center 

The Transitional Year at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Arizona is curated to provide a comprehensive foundational knowledge in internal medicine and other specialties essential for a future neurology resident. 

Each resident completes three months of inpatient internal medicine wards, one month of outpatient community internal medicine, one month in the emergency department and one month in the Intensive Care Unit.  

Cardiology: PGY-1 residents complete one month of inpatient cardiology which serves as invaluable experience in the management of patients with cerebrovascular disease. 

Ophthalmology: You complete two weeks of training in ophthalmology where you learn to perform direct ophthalmoscopy and a neuro-ophthalmological exam. An elective in neuro-ophthalmology is available during the categorical neurology residency. 

Palliative care: You complete two weeks of training in palliative care where you gain invaluable skills of managing end of life care, running care conference meetings, learning how to safely prescribe controlled substances, and learning the palliative care philosophy. 

Hematology/oncology: Mayo Clinic is a world leader in hematology and oncology. As such, residents at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Arizona often care for individuals receiving chemotherapy or radiotherapy and those that are immunosuppressed. During the hematology/oncology rotation, you gain experience caring for this patient population. 

Rheumatology: Systemic rheumatological conditions can manifest with disturbance of the central, peripheral, or autonomic nervous system. During the one-month rheumatology rotation, you spend the morning in outpatient rheumatology Clinic and the afternoon assessing inpatient Rheumatology consults with the attending physician. 

Infectious diseases: You spend one month at a community hospital, Valley Wise Medical Center, on the infectious disease consultation service where you gain exposure to a diverse and underserved population. 

Neurology: One month of the Transitional Year is spent on the neurology service. This is usually at the end of the year to allow for a smooth transition to the PGY-2 Neurology Categorical Year. The neurology month includes two weeks on the inpatient service, one week on nights with a PGY-3 or PGY-4 neurology resident and one week of outpatient neurology where you spend a day each in movement disorders, neuromuscular, autoimmune neurology, epilepsy, and headache clinics.  

The Transitional Year residents also receive lectures in the fundamentals of Neurology and have training in Neurological Emergencies in the Simulation Center at Mayo Clinic. 

PGY-2

CNP: Clinical Neurophysiology
ELEC: Elective
HYB: Hybrid
INP: Inpatient
OP: Outpatient
PCH: Phoenix Children's Hospital
PSY: Psychiatry

Academic Half Day (AHD): This 52-week lecture series is aimed at assisting neurology residents in synthesizing all aspects of clinical neurology. It serves as the capstone educational course of the Adult Neurology Residency. Topics come from all major subspecialty areas in neurology, with emphasis placed on details necessary for the independent clinical practice of neurology. 

Summer lecture series: The first two months of PGY-2 feature a summer lecture series during Academic Half Day geared towards training new neurology residents in the fundamentals of neurology. 

Early outpatient exposure: One of the unique features of our residency program is early outpatient clinic exposure. In the PGY-2 years, you have seven months of outpatient clinic. This allows you to build broad exposure and knowledge in various neurology subspeciality clinics and have one-to-one education with faculty. The additional benefit of this system is that you can identify areas of clinical and research interest early in your training. 

Inpatient: PGY-2 residents function as junior neurology residents for three months during the year. While on inpatient, you care for both general neurology and stroke neurology patients with a team consisting of a senior neurology resident, an internal medicine resident, neurology advanced practice providers, and medical students. 

Hybrid: Hybrid blocks consist of two weeks of Night Float and two weeks of outpatient. While on night floats, PGY-2 residents discuss new consults and admissions with the stroke neurology or general neurology attending providers. 

Evidence-based medicine: Evidence-based medicine is taught by national experts Dean Wingerchuk, M.D. and Cumara O'Carroll, M.D., M.P.H. at Mayo Clinic's campus in Arizona’s evidence-based clinical practice, research, informatics, and Training Center (MERIT) program. Its goal is to foster the lifelong critical thinking skills needed to evaluate research findings that impact patient care. 

MERIT conferences are integrated into Neurosciences Grand Rounds every several months. A resident, a faculty member from one of the three sites with expertise in the topic area, and a MERIT faculty member lead a patient-based satellite presentation that takes participants through all aspects of the evidence-based medicine process. The peer-reviewed summary is available on Mayo Clinic's intranet and is often published in The Neurologist, giving you an opportunity to publish in a scholarly journal before you complete your program. 

Neuro-oncology conference: You present in multi-disciplinary Neuro-Oncology Conferences each month throughout your residency. 

Morbidity and mortality conference: PGY-2 residents present a clinical case at the morbidity and mortality conference. 

Neuroanatomy course: This three-month lecture series consists of 20 lectures focused on clinical neuroanatomy. This course is taken from October to December of PGY-2. Topics include cerebral cortex, basal ganglia, cerebellum, brainstem, and spinal cord anatomy. Cross-sectional and longitudinal anatomy are emphasized. The course is designed to offer a detailed, yet clinically relevant, review of neuroanatomy. This course is standardized across all Mayo Clinic sites. 

PGY-3

CNP: Clinical Neurophysiology
ELEC: Elective
HYB: Hybrid
INP: Inpatient
OP: Outpatient
PCH: Phoenix Children's Hospital
PSY: Psychiatry

Clinical neurophysiology course: A highlight of the residency at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Arizona is the clinical neurophysiology rotation at the beginning of PGY-3. This course is a two-month intensive experience in which you learn how to perform nerve conduction studies, EMGs, and interpret EEGs. With the exception of your continuity clinic each week, you’re relieved of all patient care responsibilities during this course. 
 
During the first month of the course, you learn how to perform nerve conduction studies of the major nerves of the face, upper limb, and lower limb in hands-on practice groups with other residents and fellows. Once you have demonstrated clinical competence, you perform nerve conduction studies on clinic patients during the second month. Also, during the second month, you learn techniques for EMG, and you perform these studies on patients. Emphasis is placed not only on proper technique, but also on correct interpretation of clinical and electrophysiologic data. 
 
Throughout the course, your afternoons are devoted to learning how to conduct and interpret EEGs. You learn correct electrode placement and have the opportunity to learn correct application techniques through hands-on practice sessions with other residents and fellows. You’re given both theoretical and practical instruction on electroencephalogram techniques and interpretation. You independently read and interpret several EEGs daily throughout course. 
 
You’re also given opportunities to observe autonomic studies, as well as participate in the testing of brainstem auditory, visual, and somatosensory evoked potentials during this course. 
 
The course is highlighted by daily lectures on techniques, theory, localization, synthesis, and interpretation of EEG, nerve conduction studies, EMG, and evoked potentials. 

Basic neuroscience course: This is your second course during PGY-3. The four-month course includes 37 90-minute lectures that originate from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and are simulcast between all three Mayo Clinic locations. The course content is basic neuroscience with emphasis on clinical relevance. 

Hybrid/Inpatient: PGY-3 residents complete four blocks of hybrid and two blocks of inpatient. You can assume increased autonomy while on Night Float. 

PGY-4

CNP: Clinical Neurophysiology
ELEC: Elective
HYB: Hybrid
INP: Inpatient
OP: Outpatient
PCH: Phoenix Children's Hospital
PSY: Psychiatry

Inpatient: The PGY-4 resident functions as the senior resident on the inpatient service. This serves as an excellent transition to practice as a future attending as you learn to balance patient care, assisting junior residents, and actively assuming a leadership role. 

Psychiatry: You complete one month of inpatient psychiatry in the PGY-4 year.