Evaluation and Promotion

Evaluation of the residents’ progress toward competence as independently practicing neurologists is an extremely important component of residency training. Our program employs an array of evaluation methods as described below.

End-of-Rotation Evaluations

At the end of each rotation, supervising faculty complete electronic surveys via a website called MedHub. The evaluations include both narrative comments and quantitative assessments of the degree to which the faculty trust residents to carry out certain key responsibilities in each rotation. These key responsibilities are called entrustable professional activities (EPAs). For example, a stroke service EPA is “Can the resident respond to a stroke code and differentiate a true stroke from a stroke mimic?”

Faculty grading of entrustment is then mapped to the various milestones based on the method published by the University of Washington’s internal medicine residency. For example, differentiating a true stroke from a mimic involves history-taking, neurological exam, knowledge of cerebrovascular disease, skill at imaging interpretation, etc. The neurology milestones and the abbreviations used when mapping them are shown in the table below. Please see the individual rotation goals and objectives for details of how each rotation’s EPAs are mapped to the associated milestones.

Note that early in training, it is expected that residents will need greater supervision and that the faculty will trust the residents to function more independently over time as they demonstrate the skills necessary for independent practice. Therefore, junior residents, even very talented ones, will have relatively low EPA and milestone scores as compared to senior residents. This is a significant departure from most undergraduate programs, where grades are referenced to certain norms (e.g., 15% A’s, 50% B’s, etc.) rather than to specific outcomes (e.g., ability to perform an acid-base titration). Junior residents should understand that a relatively low score on the milestones is not the same as a relatively low grade.

Multi-Source (360⁰) Evaluations

Residents’ professionalism and interpersonal and communication skills are evaluated via electronic survey by patients, other resident colleagues, medical students, and a wide variety of co-workers. This latter category includes nurses, therapists, social workers, case managers, neurodiagnostic technicians, and schedulers.

Direct Observations

Clinical Skills Exams

Chair rounds also serve as one venue for the clinical skills exams (NEX), which have replaced the oral board examination previously needed for ABPN certification. All residents are required to pass 5 clinical skills exams for patients unknown to the resident and from the following categories: ambulatory, neurodegenerative, adult neurology, neuromuscular, and critical care.  At least one of the above pediatric patients must come from the following age groups; infant/child younger than 2 years old, child age 2-10 years, adolescent age 11-18. Each resident must complete at least two of the required clinical examinations by the end of PGY 4, and all prior to the final month of education.  The exams will be conducted by active faculty who are board-certified by the ABPN.

Brain Death Exams

Residents must be directly observed in the performance of one brain death exam (see the supervision policy above). This helps to ensure competence in a singularly important neurological task and provides another opportunity for faculty to give direct feedback regarding examination technique generally. The brain death exam may also be used to satisfy the neurocritical care clinical skills exam requirement.

Standardized Testing

Residents’ general neurological knowledge is assessed each spring via the Residency In-service Training Exam. Time off from clinical duties and call is provided for the residents in order to take the examination.

An additional self-assessment exam sponsored by the American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine is optional.

Several weeks after each exam is completed, a detailed scoring sheet is provided along with an assessment of where each resident stands compared to peers across the country. The scoring sheets provide sub scores for each subspecialty area of neurology, so that residents can make an educational plan for future learning directed towards specific areas. The exam results are reviewed in the semi-annual evaluation with the program director, but are not used for decisions regarding promotion or graduation.

Resident Self-Assessment

In preparation for the semi-annual Clinical Competency Committee meeting and subsequent review with the program director, each resident is asked to complete a self-assessment based on their end-of-rotation and other feedback. This is used to develop an individualized learning plan, help the resident keep track of various requirements such as QI projects, and guide the subsequent discussion with the program director.

Semi-Annual Reviews

At mid-year and year-end, the residency program’s Clinical Competency Committee (CCC) will meet to evaluate each resident’s performance across the various core competencies and milestones; see the CCC description above. In these meetings, the CCC will recommend one of the following actions:

• No action (for mid-year residents in good standing)
• Promotion to the next PGY level (or graduation from the program)
• Promotion to the next PGY level contingent upon remediation
• Remediation without promotion
• Warning
• Probation
• Suspension
• Termination or contract non-renewal

Subsequent to the CCC meeting, the program director will meet with each resident to discuss his or her progress individually. The resident’s self-assessment will be reviewed, along with the various evaluations detailed above and the CCC’s report.

Specific Graduation Targets

• Five Clinical Evaluation Exercises:
  • Ambulatory
  • Adult neurology
  • Critical care
  • Neurodegenerative
  • Neuromuscular
• At least 15 lumbar punctures documented in MedHub
• At least one brain death exam documented in MedHub
• At least 5 EMG/NCS reports documented in MedHub
• At least 30 EEG reports documented in MedHub
• Patient safety / quality improvement—at least:
  • One quality improvement project
• Scholarly activity—at least:
  • One journal club per year during PGY4 -5  and
  • One grand rounds presentation per course of training

Final (Summative) Evaluation

In addition to the usual six-month evaluation for the final six months of training, an additional form is completed by the Program Director attesting that the resident has “has demonstrated the knowledge, skills, and behaviors necessary to enter autonomous practice”.

All reports, evaluations, and correspondence will become part of the resident’s permanent personnel file.

Resident Evaluation of Program and Faculty

Feedback regarding the residency program and its faculty is derived from several sources. Each year, residents and fellows complete via MedHub a survey regarding:

• The program. This includes an overall rating and ratings of the clinical, educational, and scholarly components of the program, as well as the facilities and the culture. Each question has a free text comment field as well.
• The rotations. Every rotation is listed, along with a comment field.
• The people. This includes an evaluation of the faculty as a whole, the program director and coordinator, and each attending physician. Again, there’s a comment field for each one.

In addition, as part of the Program Evaluation Committee’s Annual Program Evaluation, the chief resident, in conjunction with the residents, presents a report similar to the above survey, highlighting and expanding on whichever aspects the residents believe deserve the most attention.

During the adult neurology training year, each month, the residents have a Wellness and Administrative Business meeting with the program director, coordinator, and selected associate program directors. This serves as a venue for continuous dialogue among residents and program leadership regarding the structure of the adult neurology residency program, issues with specific rotations and faculty, and the status of the various program improvement initiatives that are underway.

During the child neurology training years a monthly meeting attended by the child neurology resident/s, the child neurology residency program director, the residency coordinator and associate program director (if necessary) will convene to address current residency issues, provide updates and serve as a forum for continuous improvement to the residency.

Twice each year, each resident meets with the program director to discuss their progress through the program, career goals, and other resident-specific matters. In addition, those meetings serve as another venue for residents to provide confidential (in the sense that they don’t have to speak in front of their colleagues) feedback regarding the program.

Latest Revision: 01/09/2024, Adam Wallace