The debate over radiology residents’ clinical year continues

Radiology residents are required to complete a year-long internship before officially beginning their four-year residency—but is this “clinical year” necessary?

The Journal of the American College of Radiology shared a podcast on its blog about this very issue. In the podcast, two guests spoke with host C. Matthew Hawkins, MD, about their personal take on the year-long internship.

Tirath Y. Patel, MD, interventional radiology fellow at Baylor, explained why he believes the clinical year should remain in place. It helps radiologists in training understand the perspective of the referring physician, he said, which is key as the industry continues to focus on patient-centered care. Patel also said that removing the year could reinforce the perception that radiologists are “simply clinicians” as opposed to physicians.

Saurabh Jha, MBBS, argued that trainees do not truly learn much during that year, and it mostly involves doing a lot of paperwork. Jha said it does allow participants to speak with patients, which is a positive, but trainees could gain that same experience without spending a full year as an intern.

Of course, speculation concerning the clinical year’s validity is not necessarily new. Authors Richard B. Gunderman, MD, PhD, and John P. Tobben, MD, of the Indiana University School of Medicine department of radiology, recently shared their own concerns about the clinical year in Academic Radiology, for example.

Personally, I have no answers about the importance of this year-long internship—I’ll leave that for the industry’s leadership—but I will say that when the same complaint comes up again and again, it often means there is a significant issue that needs to be addressed.

Here’s hoping those with the power to update these policies do take the growing concerns seriously. Perhaps a compromise could be reached somewhere between the year going away completely and remaining the exact same as it is now. Or, better yet, maybe a completely new idea can come along that makes everyone happy. The only way to find out is to try.