Ambulatory Neurology

The mission of the Ambulatory Neurology Continuity Clinic of the residency program is to provide high-quality neurologic care to the members of our community and advance resident education and engagement in ambulatory neurology. 

Our residents participate in half week-long clinic blocks which occur approximately every four weeks. This clinic allows an exciting opportunity to build their own practice and develop the necessary outpatient skills in a supervised setting. Residents are exposed to a broad range of both common and rare neurological disorders in a unique patient population. The residents are supervised by the outstanding faculty who practice general and subspecialty neurology. The Neurology clinic itself represents a specialty practice with referrals primarily from Internal Medicine, but from myriad other disciplines as well. Our department has the distinct advantage of representation by faculty who are leaders in general neurology and across the subspecialty disciplines, including epilepsy, neuromuscular medicine, movement disorders, behavioral neurology and headache. 

Location

The Neurology Clinic is located on the 10th floor of the Vanderbilt Clinic (VC-10) building at 622 West 168th street and in the Neurological Institute at 710 West 168th Street. 

Patient Population

The patient population reflects the diversity of our city and includes patients  primarily from the immediate neighborhood, New York City, and the tristate area. Many patients who live in our neighborhood are from the Dominican Republic and speak primarily Spanish. Some of our residents speak Spanish, but many utilize the translation services which are always available to provide the best communication possible with our non-native English-speaking patients.

Resident Education

At Columbia, we recognize the importance of a strong ambulatory training experience and education as part of the residency training in Neurology. At major academic medical centers there is a significant amount of inpatient services, and most neurology residency programs place emphasis on the inpatient experience. However, it is increasingly recognized that ambulatory training is crucial as most neurology residents will practice in the outpatient setting upon graduating. We therefore strive to incorporate a rigorous outpatient training experience for our residents, with an emphasis on continuity of care, excellence in patient care, and academic achievement. While the clinic setting can at times be challenging, we urge our trainees to ask questions, be curious and creative, work together with the idea that something new can be learned from every patient. 

Clinical Experience

Most learning comes from the direct attending-resident interaction during patient encounters. During each of the clinic half weeks, the residents spend two half days in general neurology and two half days subspecialty clinics. The residents change their subspeciality clinics each year which allows the residents to obtain in depth exposure to each of the outpatient subspecialities. The subspecialty continuity clinics include neuromuscular, epilepsy, movement disorders, cognitive disorders, neurovascular, and neuroimmunology.