Radiology

The Department of Radiology participates actively in several parts of the curriculum. Radiology's involvement in instruction originally grew out of its significance as a diagnostic tool. With an ever-increasing diversity of modalities available in the radiology armamentarium (plain X-rays, nuclear medicine, angiography, computed tomography, ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging, and so forth), the Department of Radiology found it necessary to instruct students first in the elementary interpretation of these varied radiographic examinations and help students appreciate what expectations might be reasonable for a particular radiographic procedure.

The department's goal in instruction is to help students decide what examinations should be ordered to answer specific clinical questions. With the recent change in radiology's role from a diagnostic one to a position that includes therapeutic intervention (e.g., abscess and biliary drainages, biopsies, and vessel dilatations), it also became necessary to acquaint students with the therapeutic services that could be rendered in a radiology department. It is during radiology's involvement in medical student education that the department gives basic instruction in radiographic interpretation and also instruction in how to intelligently use the resources of a radiology department.

In the first year of medical school, during the anatomy course, radiologists teach students the living anatomy of the organ systems they have dissected. The imaging of these organ systems is discussed using plain films, computed-tomographic images, angiograms, and nuclear medicine. Cross-sectional anatomy is taught using computed-tomographic cross-sectional images.

In the third year during the clinical clerkships in medicine, students have regular formal sessions with radiologists to discuss the radiographic evaluation of various clinical problems.

In the fourth year an elective month can be spent in radiology. During this elective month tutorial film sessions are available daily for student instruction. In addition, there are daily instructional sessions to discuss the indications and contraindications of various radiographic procedures. Students are also instructed in the use of radiographic modalities in the workup of various diagnostic dilemmas. Early emphasis in this training program is on the fundamentals of imaging and interpretation. The specifics of each specialized imaging modality are taught by specialists in each field; these instructors present clinical problems and demonstrate their resolutions using the varied radiographic modalities.

Also available in the fourth year for those who have completed the basic radiology instruction is an advanced radiology elective. This is a one-month course allowing the students to spend time in the subspecialty departments of radiology. The student can elect to spend his or her month in angiography, neuroradiology, ultrasound, or computed tomography. Individual programs can be structured for the student allowing him or her to gain experience in more than one subspecialty area.

There is an additional advanced radiology elective that allows the student to spend a one-month block of time in angiography or gastrointestinal radiology; this elective gives the student experience in performing, under supervision, angiographic procedures or gastrointestinal contrast examinations.