Final answer:
A medical assistant should refer a patient with vertigo to a neurologist, who is a specialist in disorders of the nervous system and can diagnose issues leading to vertigo using tools like EEG and CT scans.
Step-by-step explanation:
If a medical assistant is preparing a referral slip for a patient with symptoms of vertigo, the appropriate specialist to refer the patient to is neurology. Neurologists are physicians who specialize in disorders of the nervous system, which includes treatment for conditions like vertigo that involve the brain, spinal cord, or peripheral nervous system.
Vertigo can be a symptom of various neurologic conditions. For example, it can indicate problems with the balance centers in the brain or issues with the nerves or structures in the inner ear. Neurologists have a variety of tools at their disposal, such as physical exams, electroencephalography (EEG), and computerized tomography (CT) scans, to diagnose problems within the nervous system that could lead to vertigo.