Description
Diagnose, manage, and treat disorders and diseases of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves, with a primarily nonsurgical focus.
- • Participate in neuroscience research activities.
- • Provide training to medical students or staff members.
- • Participate in continuing education activities to maintain and expand competence.
- • Supervise medical technicians in the performance of neurological diagnostic or therapeutic activities.
- • Counsel patients or others on the background of neurological disorders including risk factors, or genetic or environmental concerns.
- • Interpret the results of neuroimaging studies, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT), and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans.
- • Refer patients to other health care practitioners as necessary.
- • Advise other physicians on the treatment of neurological problems.
- • Prescribe or administer medications, such as anti-epileptic drugs, and monitor patients for behavioral and cognitive side effects.
- • Prescribe or administer treatments, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation, vagus nerve stimulation, and deep brain stimulation.
- • Prepare, maintain, or review records that include patients' histories, neurological examination findings, treatment plans, or outcomes.
- • Perform specialized treatments in areas such as sleep disorders, neuroimmunology, neuro-oncology, behavioral neurology, and neurogenetics.
- • Order or interpret results of laboratory analyses of patients' blood or cerebrospinal fluid.
- • Order supportive care services, such as physical therapy, specialized nursing care, and social services.
- • Interview patients to obtain information, such as complaints, symptoms, medical histories, and family histories.
- • Inform patients or families of neurological diagnoses and prognoses, or benefits, risks and costs of various treatment plans.
- • Diagnose neurological conditions based on interpretation of examination findings, histories, or test results.
- • Develop treatment plans based on diagnoses and on evaluation of factors, such as age and general health, or procedural risks and costs.
- • Determine brain death using accepted tests and procedures.
- • Communicate with other health care professionals regarding patients' conditions and care.
- • Coordinate neurological services with other health care team activities.
- • Perform or interpret the outcomes of procedures or diagnostic tests, such as lumbar punctures, electroencephalography, electromyography, and nerve conduction velocity tests.
- • Identify and treat major neurological system diseases and disorders, such as central nervous system infection, cranio spinal trauma, dementia, and stroke.
- • Examine patients to obtain information about functional status of areas, such as vision, physical strength, coordination, reflexes, sensations, language skills, cognitive abilities, and mental status.
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O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
