Neurologist
Neurology is the study of the human nervous system, which comprises the brain, the central spinal column, nerves and muscles. A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology. Within the medical specialty, a neurologist may sub-specialize in research or in treating a specific age group.
A few of the neurological diseases treated by these highly-qualified specialists include Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s and Dementia. These specialists are also deeply involved in research for better treatment drugs and methods for these conditions and for cures as well. Neurologists also research viable techniques to reverse paralysis.
For example, neurologists participated in Alzheimer’s research that has already reported significant findings regarding DNA markers and other indicators that seem to precede a potential onset of the disease. If its medical origins can be completely uncovered, the cure could soon follow.
Education Required
Because this specialist is a licensed physician, you will need a lot of schooling. Your undergraduate studies can often be completed via accredited online courses that lead to the same, highly respected degrees as campus-based studies. Top online universities and colleges don’t specifically offer a premedicine degree through any venue, but your offline or online degree focus should aim toward biology or chemistry, for example.
You will take intensive math courses as well as natural and physical science courses. You should include organic chemistry, anatomy and physiology in your course load as well. Specific course recommendations and requirements are available through your prospective offline or online university.
Once you have your Bachelor of Science degree in an applicable field, you will need to attend medical school. Because of the extensive lab hours and the later in-hospital training requirements, your classes are strictly in a brick-and-mortar environment.
Usually, accredited medical schools take three to four years during which you will not only learn in the classroom but also in a hospital environment. You will become an intern (which may or may not be a paid position), and work long hours at a stretch before any significant time off. Both this step and the next in your medical training are extremely stressful and exhausting. You are supervised, but the arduous training conditions ensure you have the mental acuity under adverse conditions to competently treat patients quickly and accurately.
After Medical School
Following your internship, you will formally graduate from medical school. However, you do not yet have the legal right to call yourself a medical doctor or treat patients independently. You must pass and take your medical license exam that permits intrastate treatment. The in-state exam is administered by the American Medical Association, and your license permits you to practice within that state only.
Once you have your medical license, you obtain a residency under a supervising neurologist. Your residency can last up to eight years. Once you complete your residency, you should have enough experience and knowledge of the practice of not only medicine but of neurology to take and pass your board certification in the specialty. This grants you legal authority to practice this specialty in any state in which you are licensed to practice medicine.
Your physician’s license and your board certification need to be renewed periodically, so continuing your study of the field and of medicine is imperative.
After almost 15 years of study and training, though, your contributions to medicine and to your patients as a licensed and certified neurologist is definitely worth the time and expense required to become a doctor.
