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What They Do
About This Career
Diagnoses, manages, and treats disorders and diseases of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves, with a primarily nonsurgical focus.
This career is part of the Health Science cluster Therapeutic Services pathway.
A person in this career:
- Interviews patients to obtain information, such as complaints, symptoms, medical histories, and family histories.
- Examines patients to obtain information about functional status of areas, such as vision, physical strength, coordination, reflexes, sensations, language skills, cognitive abilities, and mental status.
- Performs or interprets the outcomes of procedures or diagnostic tests, such as lumbar punctures, electroencephalography, electromyography, and nerve conduction velocity tests.
- Orders or interprets results of laboratory analyses of patients' blood or cerebrospinal fluid.
- Diagnoses neurological conditions based on interpretation of examination findings, histories, or test results.
- Prescribes or administers medications, such as anti-epileptic drugs, and monitor patients for behavioral and cognitive side effects.
- Identifies and treats major neurological system diseases and disorders, such as central nervous system infection, cranio spinal trauma, dementia, and stroke.
- Develops treatment plans based on diagnoses and on evaluation of factors, such as age and general health, or procedural risks and costs.
- Informs patients or families of neurological diagnoses and prognoses, or benefits, risks and costs of various treatment plans.
- Prepares, maintains, or reviews records that include patients' histories, neurological examination findings, treatment plans, or outcomes.
Working Conditions and Physical Demands
People who do this job report that:
- You would sit most of the time. There's some walking and standing. You may have to lift and carry things like books, papers or tools weighing 10 lbs. or less.
- Exposed to disease and infections more than once a month through work such as patient care, laboratory work, and sanitation control
- Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
Working in this career involves (physical activities):
- Seeing clearly up close
- Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
- Identifying and understanding the speech of another person
Work Hours and Travel
- Regular working hours and limited travel
Specialty and Similar Careers
Careers that are more detailed or close to this career:
- Adult and Pediatric Neurologist
- Adult Neurologist
- Physician
- General Neurologist
- Pediatric Neurologist — Treats children who have problems involving the nervous system, such as seizures, delayed speech, weakness, or headaches.
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts national surveys of wage data by occupation in every state and in all industry divisions. These surveys are conducted through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program.
The statistics collected for one year are published the next fall. For example, 2013 wage information was published in the fall of 2014.
There are over 800 occupations in the surveys, and these occupations cover the entire U.S. labor market. The surveys ask for reports in a scale of ranges for both hourly wages and annual wages.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics for a broad category, be aware that the salary data for a specific career may differ.
For more details about how wage information is collected and calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm.
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts a national survey of over 400,000
employers in every state and in all industry divisions. This survey is conducted
through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. Every other year the
department publishes outlook information based on these surveys.
Each outlook period covers 10 years. For example, in 2003 the outlook information
was published for 2004-2014. Employers are asked to report the number of employees
in about 770 different occupations that cover the entire U.S. labor market.
From this information, staffing patterns for different industries are established.
Industry growth is projected into the future based on past trends and current economic
conditions. Industry staffing patterns are then applied to the industry projections
to obtain occupational projections.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties
of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational
category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics
for a broad category, be aware that the employment data for a specific field may
differ.
For more details about how employment information is collected and calculated by
the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.
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