Dear AuntMinnie.com Member,
Musculoskeletal imaging has long been a bone of contention between radiologists and orthopedists. But the two groups are finding that healthy collaboration can be more productive than turf battles over who gets to image what.
Building collaborative relationships in musculoskeletal imaging is the subject of Part V in our ongoing Turf Wars in Radiology series. Located in our MRI Digital Community at http://mri.auntminnie.com, this week’s article explores the areas that can lead to conflict between specialties, and how they can be resolved.
For example, several radiology groups cite communication as a key to establishing better relationships with referring orthopedists. Is your group using the same terminology as the orthopedists to describe abnormalities? If not, you may be speaking different languages.
Close collaboration is another key. Some radiology groups hold daily conferences with their orthopedic brethren, while others go so far as to locate their reading stations in the orthopedics departments.
MRI is still a source of conflict, however. Radiologists contend that the modality is more than just a high-tech x-ray, and that control of MRI scanning should rest with radiology. But some orthopedists maintain that they've seen enough MRI scans to be proficient in certain routine studies.
Where do you stand? Give the article a read, and then give us your opinion in our Discussion Groups.
