There are many members of the department, who work to provide excellence in neurosurgical patient care at UW.
Attending Neurosurgeons:
The attendings are board certified (or eligible) neurosurgeons who are ultimately responsible for the care and decision- making for our patients. They have clinics, round daily on their patients and are present for all key portions of surgical procedures. They rely on the residents to gather and analyze information, construct plans and ultimately implement their care decisions.
Residents:
The residents are the heart and soul of our neurosurgery service. Given the demands of our specialty, they can be among the busiest in the hospital and are responsible for knowing the details of the healthcare of all the patients for whom they are responsible. They are heavily supported by mid-level provider (MLP) staff (i.e. PA’s and ARNP’s, see below) who help with orders, paperwork and other routine aspects of patient care, allowing them to focus on more educational aspects of workload. The junior residents are primarily responsible for managing patients on the neurosurgery floors as well as for seeing new patient consults throughout the hospital and in the Emergency Department. Junior residents will typically communicate with their supervising senior or chief resident, refine plans of care, and present this information to the attendings. The senior and chief residents run morning rounds and are primarily in the operating room during the day, as are the junior-level operating residents.
Mid-Level Providers:
Physician assistants and nurse practitioners who work closely with the residents and comprise the rest of the Neurosurgery inpatient and outpatient teams. They work most closely with the junior residents and help with an enormous amount of work. They are an invaluable resource for both the residents and students on service.