The purpose of a neurological consultation is to allow the neurologist to gather information about the patient's condition so the neurologist can diagnose the problem and plan a treatment.
The process of collecting information begins when the patient arrives for the appointment. Promptness is important as the patient will be given forms to fill out, one of which will be a four-page patient history. When the paperwork has been completed, a midlevel provider (or the doctor if a midlevel provider does not assist the doctor) will call the patient from the waiting room and take him/her to an exam room. The midlevel provider will interview the patient concerning the following information:
After the interview is finished, the exam follows. It is divided into the following parts.
At
this point, the midlevel provider will leave the patient to discuss all
of the information with the doctor. The doctor will then see the patient
and ask
any further questions he/she feels might be helpful and may repeat pertinent
parts of the exam. He will then go over with the patient his plan for treatment
and/or testing. Tests
often used by neurologists to help assess a patient's condition include
CT and MRI imaging, EMG/NCV tests,
and EEG testing.
Neurologists diagnose and treat medical conditions such as strokes, transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), dementia, seizures, carpal tunnel syndrome, Tourette's syndrome, pinched nerves, and Bell's palsy. Diseases diagnosed and treated by neurologists include epilepsy, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinsonism, Alzheimer's, muscular dystrophy, myasthenia gravis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease). For more information on neurological diseases, visit the website of the American Academy of Neurology.
All of the information collected during the neurological consultation, including the physical and neurological examinations and the doctor's plan for treatment and/or testing, will be dictated onto a tape. The tape will then be transcribed into a formal report of findings and placed in the patient's chart for future reference.
