Patients want peace of mind when it comes to their care. Being board certified means physicians are skilled, knowledgeable and experts in their specialty. It also means they’ve met a higher standard. To learn more about board certification, view this new Certification Matters video or visit www.CertificationMatters.org
Currently, there are several paths to become a spine surgeon in North America. The most common paths are: 1) an orthopedic residency followed by a spine fellowship OR 2) a neurological surgery residency Post graduate neurosurgical spine fellowships do exist and are useful and important for those surgeons pursuing an academic career or those seeking subspecialized training in a particular aspect of spinal surgery. A dedicated spine fellowship also allows post graduate neurosurgeons exposure to different clinical philosophies and approach management to spinal disorders. There has been some confusion regarding the role of fellowships for neurosurgeons interested in spine and a perception that some sort of added credential is required for hospital privileges or community acceptance of the neurosurgeon’s expertise. This is despite the fact that in 1995, the Council of Spine Societies (AAOS, AANS, NASS and others) issued a statement regarding the fact that residency trained neurosurgeons are spine specialists upon completion of their residency. Here are some facts, drawn from the 2016-2017 ACGME case requirements and case logs that may help put this issue to rest. The Orthopaedic Residency Review Committee requires that orthopedic residents be exposed to 15 spine cases during their residency. In reality, the average orthopedic resident participates throughout residency in 79 spine cases with 8 of these cases involving spinal instrumentation. In contrast, the Neurosurgical Residency Review Committee requires that neurosurgical residents be exposed to 240 spine cases. In reality, the average neurosurgery resident is a senior or lead surgeon on 411 spine cases…
Neurological Surgeons participating in the American Board of Neurological Surgery MOC satisfy the American College of Surgeons COT continuing educational requirements necessary to participate in Level 1 Trauma Center coverage. No additional trauma related CME are required. The ABNS considers trauma and emergency neurological practice and principles part of every diplomates “core knowledge”. The ABNS will use their MOC/continuous certification process to update and educate our diplomates on these emergency neurological surgery principles as new evidence based data evolves.
As of Spring 2018 the ABNS Directors, after soliciting advice from several stakeholders, decided to include diagnostic cerebral angiography as a “major” procedure. As a result, these will be included as part of the required major case total for primary certification. If you enter diagnostic cerebral angiogram data into POST, please note the following: Patient demographic data and medical history data are entered, as with any case In the diagnostic section, if the cerebral angiogram yielded a positive result, choose the appropriate pathology(ies) identified from the pull down menu. If the diagnostic angiogram yielded a negative or equivocal result, choose the most appropriate “other” category and write your suspected diagnosis in the text box provided. For example: CT scan with hemorrhage suggested possible aneurysmal SAH. One could choose in the procedure category: Cranial-Vascular-Hemorrhage (Y)- SAH- Other Hemorrhagic vascular pathology (text-Suspected Aneurysmal SAH) In the procedure section, diagnostic angiogram is available in the cranial and spine major categories. Please choose the appropriate option Under imaging and testing, please list any studies that were performed prior to the diagnostic cerebral angiogram and were relevant to your decision to perform that procedure (e.g., head CT with findings suspicious for vascular pathology) In the image upload section, please provide select images from the diagnostic angiogram along with any select images from studies that may have influenced your decision to perform the procedure (e.g., CT with SAH and suggestion of PCOM aneurysm) Non-surgical management and Surgical outcomes data are entered as with any other case,…
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