Department of Neurology

Neurology 647

Saint Alphonsus Medical Group – Mulvaney Neurology
Boise, ID

1072 N Liberty, Suite 303
Boise, ID 83704
Site Director: Dr. Jackie Whitesell
jackie.whitesell@saintalphonsus.org
Phone: 208-302-4200

Office contact: Tyler Moser
Tyler.Moser@saintalphonsus.org
208-302-4234

4 Weeks Prior To Arrival

  • Fill out the Required Paperwork at:  https://www.saintalphonsus.org/body.cfm?id=3796&fr=true
    • Clerkship/Rotation Form (UWSOM students not required to obtain Supervising Physician’s Signature – Saint Al’s will collect signature)
    • Confidentiality Agreement
    • Student Manual – Read and complete Student Orientation Worksheet
    • Provide Influenza vaccination verification if rotating between Nov 1 – March 31
  • Letter of Good Standing (LOGS):  Required for this site.  Please go to your E*Value profile and download the LOGS to send.  Instructions if needed.
  • Return the required paperwork to sahsgme@saintalphonsus.org.  **ATTENTION** No exceptions.  The paperwork must be returned 4-weeks before the start.

Travel & Housing

Travel: You will receive mileage reimbursement for one roundtrip to and from Boise. Contact Scott Bailey at sgbailey@uw.edu to arrange for travel reimbursement.

Housing: Fully furnished 2 bedroom/2 bath unit, laundry facilities located on site.  Wireless internet access and cable TV provided. Housing is shared with other UWSOM 3rd and/or 4th year medical students. The housing is co-ed. The units are not suitable for family housing. No smoking/No pets.

If you require access to a 1 st floor apartment or are requesting to room w/same gender we will make every reasonable attempt to meet that request. Students MUST contact our office ASAP to advise us of any special requests.

Housing Contact: Linda Clark, Idaho WWAMI, (208) 422-1000 ext. 7642, Linda.Clark4@va.gov

Orientation, First Day & What To Bring

Clerkship orientation: You will need to view the away student orientation video on the Distance Learning page. You willl need to refer to your Pocket Syllabus (see below) when viewing the video.

First day: Please contact Tyler Moser in Dr. Whitesell’s office to find out when and where to report on your first day.

Equipment to bring: White coat and name tag, reflex hammer, tuning fork (128Hz), stethoscope,
(Ophthalmoscope recommended).

Pocket syllabus: A “pocket syllabus” will be mailed to you. A printable (PDF) version is also available on the Pocket Syllabus page.

Course Requirements

Course requirements are listed below. Refer to the Distance Learning page for due dates.

Cases: Two case write-ups are due each week. Further information is available in the orientation video and on the Cases page. Your assigned case numbers are on the Distance Learning page. Please note that your assigned case numbers are different than for the Seattle-based students. Weekly case answers and video lectures will be available on the Distance Learning page on Thursdays after 1PM.

Patient log: You are required to log in the patients you have seen each week. The log is described in the clerkship orientation video. Additional details are on the Patient Log page.

Clinical & Bioethical CEX exercises: You are required to do both a clinical and a bioethical mini-CEX for this course. See the Mini-CEX page for details.

Presentations: Presentation requirements are described in the orientation video and are available on the Presentations page.

Final exam: Your final exam will be held in Boise unless you tell the clerkship director otherwise.  The scheduling/notification process runs through UW Testing Services and the contact email is somtests@uw.edu. See the Final Exam page for information about the exam.

About The Site

Dr. Whitesell’s practice is predominantly outpatient. Office hours are 8 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday. However, one week a month Dr. Whitesell is the neurohospitalist from 7am until 7pm daily. During this week, you will be expected to see new inpatient consults and/or round on existing neurology inpatients during Dr. Whitesell’s inpatient week. You are not expected to be on call during the weekends or at night and typically your inpatient responsibilities can be completed between 8-5pm. You will initially see new patients and inpatient/ER consults on your own and then present patients and your impressions as well as a differential diagnosis to Dr. Whitesell.

Saint Alphonsus is a regional stroke center and therefore a busy hospital. The Neurology service evaluates and makes decisions regarding intravenous TPA administration. There is a monthly stroke case review conference on the third Wed morning of every month that is very educational to attend where all TPA cases are reviewed.

The outpatient neurology experience allows you to see a variety of adult and some pediatric neurological disorders. Dr. Whitesell does travel to Nampa, ID for an outreach clinic 1-2 Weds per month. Dr. Whitesell also goes to the Elks Rehab hospital in Boise for an ALS clinic and MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association) two days per month. You will have the opportunity to also attend these clinics or arrangements can be made for you to be assigned to an Epileptologist, Neurosurgeon, or a Pediatric Neurologist. Please discuss this with Dr. Whitesell on your first day so that these rotations can be organized to try to satisfy your interests.

You will evaluate and present select new patients to Dr. Whitesell during outpatient clinic. You will be supplied with a guide regarding what is expected to be included in the history and physical examination. You are expected to present a differential diagnosis and the most likely diagnosis in each case. Each new patient is allotted a 1-hour slot so you will be given 30 minutes on your own with the patient to obtain the history and physical. The remaining time is spent in presentation, re-evaluation with Dr. Whitesell and if time allows, discussion of the case immediately after the evaluation (if we are running behind this is done a little later in the day). You will also be given 1-2 topics per week usually based on an interesting patient seen that week. A short (5 min) presentation will be expected weekly.

There is a computer with Internet access available to you while in the office. The office has a microwave oven and refrigerator for your use. You will also have a desk or table to place your things and to use as your home base. We look forward to having you at our Boise office.