M4 Elective

PMR-710 Clinical Elective in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Rotation Description

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R or physiatry) is a medical specialty concerned with diagnosis and treatment of functional impairments in children and adults involving the neurological and musculoskeletal systems.

The Clinical Elective in PM&R introduces students to the principles of physical medicine and rehabilitation in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

Rotation will include comprehensive rehabilitative care of adults and children with major disabling illness or injury, in which students will write history and physical assessments, give oral presentations and discuss information learned about the patient’s diagnosis and functional impairments. Students will learn to perform an excellent neurological and musculoskeletal examination to identify functional deficits; will learn principles of physical and occupational therapy treatments for mobility and activities of daily living, and speech therapy evaluation of language and swallowing. Mandatory components of this rotation will be oral case presentations to the attending, written history and physical submitted for critique, attendance at all journal club and teaching conferences, and satisfactory performance on an end-rotation written test of knowledge.

Rotation Objectives

1. Define appropriate types of patients for inpatient comprehensive rehabilitation.
2. Give examples of standard methods for assessment of function and their relationship to common diseases and injuries.
3. Demonstrate the ability to perform a neurological and musculoskeletal physical examination appropriate to the setting and describe the functional impairments you identify from this examination.
4. Distinguish the role of each discipline of the multidisciplinary rehabilitative team and give examples of how each team member contributes toward the patient’s care plan for return to the community.
5. Identify how electrodiagnostic examination can assess disorders of the peripheral nervous system.

Rotation Director

Samuel Bierner, MD, Professor and Chair, UNMC Department of PM&R

Rotation Instructors/Attendings

• Samuel Bierner, MD, Professor and Chair, UNMC Department of PM&R               
• Christopher Anderson, DO, Assistant Professor, UNMC Department of PM&R
• Justin Choi, MD, Assistant Professor, UNMC Department of PM&R                     
• Daniel Pierce, MD, Assistant Professor, UNMC Department of PM&R
• Sonia Schneider, MD, Assistant Professor, UNMC Department of PM&R
• Michael Weaver, DO, Assistant Professor, UNMC Department of PM&R                         

Students who are interested in participating in this elective should contact Kayla Zaloudek.
Email: kayla.zaloudek@unmc.edu or 402-836-9288.

For more information regarding our partner facility, Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, please visit their website at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital.