Neurosurgery Residency Training

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The Department of Neurosurgery is committed to the overall objectives of the University of Minnesota and its Medical School in maintaining the highest standards of academic excellence in programs of graduate and undergraduate medical education, application of necessary clinical services to patients, continued medical education for physicians, and basic and applied research to clinical problems.

The practice of neurosurgery is a life long commitment: an endeavor because it demands commitment in time and energy, an enjoyment because of the continuing acquisition of knowledge and skills as well as the satisfaction of using them to deliver quality patient care.  In the academic institution, trainees and teachers share these experiences.  They learn together and together they add knowledge to the discipline of neurosurgery.  This experience is a privilege, which is gained by the very few training in neurosurgery and is the key to the privilege or providing neurosurgical care. 

Neurosurgery, whether practiced in the academic or community setting, requires a commitment to service, teaching and to academic pursuits.  While all three commitments are most obvious in the academic health center, the community neurosurgeon finds that he/she must play the role of teacher to his or her patients, colleagues, and allied health professionals in the community.  The resident must also maintain an attitude of academic inquiry in order to remain current in the literature and critically analyze his or her own practice.

Physicians must have a keen sense of personal responsibility for patient care.  Their obligation to patients is not automatically concluded at any particular hour of the day or day of the week.  Neurosurgery is a service-intense specialty and requires life long adherence to these principles.  Residency training serves as a preparation to appreciate and acquire such a practice pattern.

Neurosurgery training sites at University of Minnesota Medical Center, Faiview  and Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis are ranked among the top 50 hospitals for neurosurgery in the country according to U.S. News and World Report.  The department is also ranked very highly among all neurosurgery departments in the country for NIH research support.