Implementation of a Novel Hands-on Advanced Radiology Elective

https://doi.org/10.1067/j.cpradiol.2020.10.012Get rights and content

Abstract

Despite the use of imaging in many medical and surgical practices, no universal mandatory radiology component is required by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. In contrast, United States medical students are required to complete at least one core subinternship during their final year of medical school in medicine, surgery, pediatrics, or family medicine, regardless of their chosen field of interest. Students are expected to perform just below the level of an intern, performing functions such as assisting in writing notes, placing orders, and arranging for appropriate follow-up. To our knowledge, there are few institutions that offer a comparable clinical experience in radiology. In order to address this, we successfully designed and implemented a hands-on medical student advanced radiology elective, which allowed for experiential learning through independent dictation of radiographic examinations and procedure-based practice. Here, we describe the process of developing such an elective, how to implement it at other institutions, and some insight into troubleshooting any potential pitfalls should they arise. Overall, our novel hands-on elective enables a more student-centered, active learning approach, allowing for more in-depth, accurate evaluation of specialty choice while also equipping faculty and residency programs with the skills to best assess student interest, motivation, knowledge, and communication skills.

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Description of the Problem

Undergraduate radiology medical education in the United States varies widely by institution. Despite the use of imaging in many medical and surgical practices, no universal mandatory radiology component is required by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. A 2010 survey showed that only 25% of accredited United States allopathic and osteopathic medical schools required a core clerkship in radiology, with the vast majority of programs providing optional electives in diagnostic and

What We Did

The traditional medical student introduction to radiology is often limited by a lack of realistic or active exposure to the true workflow of the specialty. To address this deficiency, our advanced elective participants were treated as first year residents, giving them resident-level access to the Picture Archive and Communication System (PACS) (AGFA Enterprise Imaging, AGFA Healthcare, Mortsel, Belgium) and dictation software (PowerScribe 360, Nuance Communications, Burlington, MA). All

Outcomes and Limitations

Current medical student radiology electives typically involve passively shadowing attendings and residents at the workstation, with interspersed teaching pearls. This passive learning model has several limitations. First, passive shadowing prevents significant integration of learned content. Similar to traditional lecture-based curriculum, passive shadowing only affords a framework of the relevant material without allowing for deeper understanding and knowledge retention. For deeper learning to

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The authors declare that they had full access to all of the data in this study and the authors take complete responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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