Leading the Way in Training Neurodiagnostic Technicians

January 03, 2023

Lurie Children’s world-class Epilepsy Monitoring Unit staff ensures that patients undergoing video EEG monitoring have care 24 hours a day, every day. The cohesive center is also committed to educating neurodiagnostic technicians – and it has a global footprint.

The team offers one of the only hospital-based training programs for EEG technologists in the U.S. that is approved by the ABRET-Neurodiagnostic Credentialing and Accreditation Board as a pathway toward the R. EEG T., board exam.

The 12-month program combines didactic teaching using the ASET-EEG Core Curriculum (EEG 200-211), which includes the neuroscientific basis for recording of the EEG coupled with extensive hands-on training recording EEGs in children with daily physician record review.

In the past six years, the program has increased diagnostic staff at Lurie Children’s by 200 percent, also increasing diagnostic testing in the Epilepsy Unit and Neurocritical (PICU, NICU, CCU) Care Video EEG programs by 150 percent. The program has had more than 20 graduates since its conception in 2016.

“The training program has allowed us not only to care for more children within the Lurie Children’s walls, but also to expand neurodiagnostic testing and monitoring to our partner hospitals providing them with 24/7 Video EEG monitoring,” said Erik Padilla, MBA, R. EEG/EP T., CNIM, CLTM, FASET, FACHE; director of Neurodiagnostic Services at Lurie Children’s.

Extending its reach further, last year the program’s leadership including Mr. Padilla developed a modified course curriculum on an interactive web-based platform so that providers in Mbale, Uganda, associated with the nonprofit CURE International could access the training. Enrollment for the web-based EEG curriculum was donated to the Uganda-based doctors by ASET-The Neurodiagnostic Society, a professional association for neurodiagnostic professionals involved in the study and recording of electrical activity in the brain and nervous system.

Access to the instructional platform allowed the team in Uganda to successfully perform EEGs on their patients, a test not previously available to many children there who needed it.

“As the only neurodiagnostic technology program in Chicago, we are looking to expand the enrollment of students in the Lurie Children’s program to provide Chicago area hospitals with a pipeline of trained competent neurodiagnostic professionals and continue to have a greater impact for patients in need of neurodiagnostic testing,” Mr. Padilla said. Learn more about Lurie Children’s Neurodiagnostic Technology Program.