Clinical study
Making the Case for Early Medical Student Education in Interventional Radiology: A Survey of 2nd-year Students in a Single U.S. Institution

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvir.2009.12.397Get rights and content

Purpose

To examine perceptions of interventional radiology (IR) among a group of second-year medical students and support the case for early exposure to the field in order to increase visibility and, ultimately, recruitment to this specialty.

Materials and Methods

Sixty-five members of the class of 2011 from a single U.S. institution were anonymously surveyed about their opinions on IR before and after a 1-hour case-based introductory lecture.

Results

Sixty-four students completed the survey in its entirety. Perception about what IR entails varied, with 52% of the students aware of IR involvement in major and potentially life-saving procedures; however, 34% believed that an interventional radiologist primarily performed “minor” procedures or “read films.” Previous interaction with interventional radiologists was uncommon. Following the single, case-based introductory IR lecture, 74% of the class was eager to learn more about the specialty, with 22% interested in enrolling in a dedicated hands-on elective in IR. The perception and impression of what IR entails changed significantly for the better for 75% of the students. Before the lecture, 19% were considering IR as a career (first or second choice); this increased to 33% after the introductory lecture.

Conclusions

Although medical students are aware of IR, their exposure and understanding is limited. They are keen to learn more when exposed to it. Reaching out to the medical students early in their career may help in recruiting talent and securing the specialty's growth.

Section snippets

Materials and Methods

Sixty-five 2nd-year medical students, all of them members of the class of 2011 from a single U.S. institution, were surveyed about their opinions on IR before and after a 60-minute lecture introducing them to the field. These short multiple-choice surveys, of about five questions each, were designed to elucidate their core impressions of IR and whether they found introductions to IR at this early stage beneficial. Students' responses were anonymous. The lecture was presented as a part of a

Results

All 65 surveys, except one, were completely filled and all questions were answered. Sixty-one of the 65 students (94%) had some awareness about IR, with 11 students (17%) considering themselves “familiar” or “very familiar.” A third of the class (32.8%) gained their awareness via one or more of the following: direct interaction with interventional radiologists (n = 6, 9%), an occasional lecture in IR (n = 10, 15%), textbook or journal articles (n = 5, 8%), family in IR (n = 5, 8%), summer

Discussion

As IR continues to broaden its scope and visibility in the current healthcare landscape, practitioners continually raise concerns about the specialty's suboptimal visibility among other medical services and ongoing ‘turf battles’ over referrals (1, 2, 4). Concurrently, there is a growing shortage in the number of qualified interventional radiologists (1, 2, 3); in 2009, 51% of certified fellowship training programs were left with unfilled positions (5). There is an increasing need to establish

References (8)

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None of the authors have identified a conflict of interest.

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