Dedicated symposiums—even ones limited to a day or less—could be key mediums for raising awareness of interventional radiology (IR) among medical students and recruiting future radiology leaders, Ohio State University researchers reported in Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology this April.
Interventional radiology (IR) was first recognized as a distinct primary specialty by the American Board of Medical Specialities in 2012, first author Mina S. Makary, MD, and colleagues wrote, and the field is working to transition from fellowships to dedicated IR residencies by 2020. Still, the authors said, the specialty is making slow progress when it comes to recognition.
“The IR field experienced tremendous leaps of growth over the past decade,” they wrote. “Understanding of this dynamic and evolving speciality among prospective medical students has, however, lagged behind, despite the ever-increasing importance of reaching out to trainees at the medical school stage for optimal recruitment of the next generation of interventionalists.”
Makary et al. observed students’ perceptions of the speciality at a state-wide IR symposium organized by a central Ohio academic medical center in January of 2017. The conference was open to all Ohio medical students and was “well-attended” by 46 students from two medical schools, the majority of whom were preclinical and hadn’t attended anything similar before. That’s not a surprise, the authors said.
“Several studies have demonstrated that most medical students unfortunately lack the exposure to and understanding of IR, and most do not consider IR as a potential career choice,” they wrote.
This could lie in a lack of knowledge, misconceptions about IR and limited or no medical school curriculum exposure to IR, Makary and co-authors said, but prior work has reported just 1.7 percent of medical students are required to complete a diagnostic radiology rotation, and less than 1 percent of that fraction are exposed to IR.
Of the 46 students who attended the Ohio symposium, the researchers wrote that nearly 60 percent had been exposed to IR through school curriculum, while another half of the pool had been involved in IR interest group activities. Just one-fifth of students had shadowed an interventional radiologist in the past.
Those who did attend the meeting showed an increased understanding of the differences between IR and diagnostic radiology, according to the study, as well as the role of interventional radiologists in practice and when to consult them. The full cohort reported a boost in interest in the specialty and pursuing a career in IR, but students with an interest in nonsurgical specialties were more intrigued.
Though the results were promising, Makary and his team said they also highlighted huge gaps in the medical school process, including in efforts to educate students, and earlier, about IR.
“These findings are worrisome given that the lack of understanding of this rapidly growing specialty may hinder recruitment of the best candidates and may affect our ability to maintain an appropriate future workforce,” the authors wrote. “Currently, demand for IR procedures is at risk of outpacing the number of practicing interventionalists. It is, therefore, paramount to focus our efforts to integrate IR education in medical school curriculum.”
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.