Alternatively, residents can take a 1 year clinical elective in pediatric neurosurgey, stereotactic neurosurgery, epilepsy and functional neurosurgery, spine surgery or interventional neuroradiology at NYU or elsewhere to acquire subspecialty expertise. Depending on the complexity of the case and the ability of the resident, the resident may do the entire surgical procedure with the attending neurosurgeon or a fellow acting as the first assistant. The chief resident administers the pre and post-op care on all patients, rounds on all patients twice daily and reports to each attending neurosurgeon on that service daily. At these institutions the chief resident assumes total responsibility as the operating surgeon for all patients on the neurosurgical service. At Bellevue and at the VA Medical Center this includes resonsibility the neurosurgery outpatient clinics, patients on the neurosurgery floor, elective and emergency room consults.
Every operative procedure is discussed beforehand with an attending neurosurgeon.
Moreover, the attending neurosurgeon is physically present at all operations - usually as a first assistant to the resident. The operative experience at Bellevue is extensive. The chief resident will personally perform approximately 200 elective and emergency and elective intracranial and spinal procedures during these six months. The pace is somewhat slower at the VA Medical Center. There were 126 neurosurgical procedures performed in this past academic year.