Section of Neurosurgery

Residency

The Neurosurgery Residency Program at the University of Nebraska was approved in July 1993 and began training neurosurgery residents in July 1994. The program is five years in duration after the required one year of preliminary surgery training. We are a 2-1 program.  Two residents are resident every other year and the preliminary year is spent at UNMC. 

The resident will be exposed to the private as well as the academic practice of modern neurosurgery through rotations at the Nebraska Methodist Hospital and Children's Memorial Hospital in addition to the Nebraska Medical Center. 

The program is five years in length pending satisfactory completion of requirements. Forty-five months are spent on the neurosurgery service, twelve months of this as Chief Resident. Fifteen months are spent learning basic information in neurology, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neuropathology, neuroradiology and clinical electives.

While at UNMC, call will be every fourth night. As the senior resident at Methodist/Children's, call will be every other night. The Chief Resident will act as every night back-up. 

The section participates in several conferences and residents will be expected to contribute to the success of these learning opportunities. The conferences include: Tumor Board Conference, held twice monthly, Grand Rounds every other Wednesday, Neuroradiology conference every Tuesday, Morbidity & Mortality conference and Journal Club every month. 

Resident performance will be evaluated every six months with written reviews and meetings with the program director. Evaluation is based on the ACGME and American Board of Neurological Surgery criteria. The resident will be provided with a copy of the evaluation. Unsatisfactory performance will result in probation with specific guidelines for improvement and review. 

Residents will be allowed to take the written portion of the Neurosurgical Board Exam during the NS-1 and NS-2 years for self-evaluation and in the NS-3 year, for credit. 

A yearly stipend is provided to purchase books or to attend meetings, courses or other related activities.

The neurosurgery offices are located in the University Hospital with clinical facilities housed in a newly constructed Outpatient Care Center. The Methodist/Children's complex is located 10 minutes from the Nebraska Medical Center.