The designated neuroscience floor at Allegheny General Hospital has 36 beds dedicated to the care of neurologic and neurosurgical patients, with three rooms designed for extended-stay video-electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring.
The faculty and house staff also monitor 8 maximum-observation beds for trauma/intensive care neurology/neurosurgery patients and 23 beds in the Surgical or Neuro Intensive Care units.
The department diagnostic laboratory capabilities include the EEG/Evoked Potential (EP) Laboratory and Electromyography (EMG)/Nerve Conduction Velocity (NCV) Laboratory, in addition to continuous video-EEG monitoring.
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1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
PGY2 |
Stroke |
GEN |
Float |
EEG |
Buddy |
Stroke |
GEN |
Elect |
Float |
Elect |
Stroke |
GEN |
|
PGY3 |
Elect |
EEG |
CHP |
Elect |
Elect |
CHP |
GEN |
Buddy |
Stroke |
GEN |
Float |
NICU |
|
PGY4 |
Stroke |
GEN |
Float |
NICU |
Buddy |
EEG |
CHP |
Psych |
Elect |
Elect |
Elect |
Elect |
Neurology residents care for patients in the General Neurology Clinic and in subspecialty clinics such as those listed below.
Allegheny General Hospital was one of the first medical centers in the country and the first in western Pennsylvania to be designated as an Advanced Comprehensive Stroke Center by the Joint Commission. A multidisciplinary team that consists of three board-certified stroke specialists manages stroke at AGH in addition to three interventional neuroradiologists and fully staffed neurosurgery and neurocritical care services.
Neurology residents at AGH manage all aspects of stroke care. Neurology residents are the team leaders in the acute stroke alerts and direct the management of stroke patients in the emergency department, including screening and administration of tPA, advanced imaging, management of complications, reversal of anticoagulation and decisions regarding emergent endovascular procedures. Patients admitted to the stroke service are followed by the neurology residents throughout their hospitalization, which includes being the primary care provider in the neurocritical care setting as well.
Allegheny General Hospital is fully equipped with 3 MRI scanners (1.5 Tesla) with diffusion and perfusion weighted imaging capability, 4 CT scanners (CT angiography and perfusion imaging), digital subtraction cerebral angiography, transcranial Doppler and carotid ultrasound. The hospital also has a 23-bed Neuro Intensive Care Unit, 36-bed Neuroscience Unit and a 42-bed Telemetry Monitored Unit. LifeFlight is the aeromedical transportation system based at AGH and provides rapid transfer of stroke patients to AGH for acute stroke care.
While neurology residents provide care exclusively at Allegheny General Hospital, four other hospitals within the Allegheny Health Network system have primary stroke centers. Complicated stroke, hemorrhages and interventional cases are usually transferred to the Comprehensive Stroke Center at AGH for management, providing neurology residents with an opportunity to be exposed to high-acuity and challenging cases.
The stroke department is also involved in several clinical trials including IRIS, CLEAR III, Clot Lysis, POINT as well as registries such as GLORIA-AF.
The Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at AGH has three attending epileptologists on staff. There is an active epilepsy surgery program with participation of an epilepsy neurosurgeon and neuropsychologist. Neurology residents get significant exposure to the management of seizures and epilepsy via this clinic, but also in the resident continuity clinic, which is usually staffed by one of the epileptologists. There is also a weekly epilepsy surgery conference that the residents are expected to attend.
The EMU at AGH has 4 dedicated beds staffed by a technologist and a nurse. In the neuroscience unit there are an additional 8 beds that are hard-wired and ready to function as EMU beds.
The inpatient neurology service is in close relation to the epilepsy service and significant numbers of consults in the hospital are for seizures and status epilepticus. The EEG laboratory at AGH operates 6 portable video EEG machines and has 4 dedicated technologists. Neurology residents at AGH get a broad exposure to the management of seizures and epilepsy, both in the inpatient as well outpatient settings.
