1. Brianna Stahl
March 26, 2015
KNH103
Report 6: Job Shadow
I shadowed and interviewed Dr. Brad Mullin, director of the Division of
Neurosurgery at Mount Carmel East, and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at
Ohio State University. Dr. Mullin practices surgery of the spine, brain and peripheral
nervous system. He also instructs and teaches in the Physician Assistant Program at Ohio
Dominican University as well as instructs and teaches nurse practitioners through the
Mount Carmel College of Nursing.
Dr. Mullin’s first job in medicine was being a phlebotomist at Grant Hospital. He
went to undergraduate school at Otterbein College and then attended medical school at
Ohio State University. He did his neurosurgery residency through The Ohio State
University Neurosurgery Program. He graduated in 1994 and since then has been at his
current position in neurosurgery since then. In addition Dr. Mullin did a fellowship work
through the National Institute of Health as well as the Spinal Cord Injury Lab at Ohio State
University.
His favorite part of his job is taking care of patients. “I feel privileged to be able to
care for patients, however often other entities are more concerned with the business aspects
of medicine than they are the human aspects of taking care of people.” Dr. Mullin believes
that medicine has changed and Doctors are now constantly forced to deal with entities like
insurance companies and governmental intervention, which makes his practice of medicine
very difficult. Less interference by entities such as insurance companies and the
government would make Dr. Mullin’s job better.

2. On top of dealing with outside influences, Neurosurgery is very rigorous and
demanding in terms of time expenditure and stress. Dr. Mullin deals with patients with
very hard procedures that deal with high senses of acuity. Dr. Mullin says that the most
difficult part of his job is dealing with highly stressful and emotional situations.
Dr. Mullin uses his educational background every day. Both his book knowledge
and residency work and experience are used day-to-day when caring for patients. There
were certain courses required while in college that Dr. Mullin does not use on a daily basis
but very few. If he had to do it over again, he would have become multilingual and taken
more language classes in school.
The trends in the neurosurgery field are more towards sub-specialization. It is
becoming increasingly difficult to manage private practice because of all the demands set
forth by these other aforementioned entities.
Dr. Mullin has various certifications for his job. He is required to continue medical
education of approximately 100 hours every two years. He is continually learning new
procedures and refinements in procedures. For example, recently he developed increasing
abilities in endoscopic skull-based surgery. In terms of professional organizations, people
in his field are required to maintain standards set forth by the American Association of
Neurologic Surgeons.
Neurosurgery really pushes someone to the limits in terms of demands, both
physically and mentally. I have learned that neurosurgery is a highly stressful job and
requires steady hands. Neurosurgery requires continual education, because modern
medicine is constantly changing. Becoming a Neurosurgeon is definitely a job that is a lot
of work but highly rewarding if you are interested in that field.