Navy’s only nerve conduction tech

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Melissa Clayton, an electroneurodiagnostic technician at Naval Hospital Pensacola, Fla., recently became the only registered nerve conduction study technologist in the Navy. She can now test the nerves of patients to see how efficiently their nerves transmit and receive signals from their spinal cord; and sees 10-12 patients weekly in the Neurology Clinic. While attending the Navy’s school for electroneurodiagnostic technicians at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Clayton was exposed to only one day of nerve conduction training across her six-month corpsman training course. That day struck a nerve. When she came to NHP, the department wasn’t doing nerve conduction studies. “I found an old nerve conduction machine and started teaching myself how to use it,” she said. Nerve conduction studies evaluate the function of the motor and sensory nerves of the human body and the studies are used for numbness of extremities, signs of carpal tunnel, and spinal cord nerve issues. Clayton is also the enlisted technical leader for the all 22 electroneurodiagnostic technicians in the Navy. (Source: NH Pensacola 07/19/18) NHP is the parent command of two branch health clinics in Mississippi at NAS Meridian and Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport.