Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Is there a better way to deal with the perceived oversupply of radiologists than just reducing the number of radiology residency spots? A new study suggests there is.
While many newly minted radiologists are having trouble getting jobs, researchers have found that growth in the number of radiologists has actually lagged that of other types of physicians, and has been about par with overall population growth.
Meanwhile, radiologists appear to be leaving rural regions and concentrating in urban areas, creating localized pockets of under- and oversupply. As fewer medical students are picking radiology, we actually could be in store for a shortage of radiologists in some regions, the authors believe.
Rather than reducing residency slots, a better strategy might be to address regional variation with incentives for radiologists to work in certain geographic areas. Learn more by clicking here.
How patients tweet about MRI
You can learn a lot about how patients view their MRI scans by looking at their tweets.
That's according to a new study by an Australian researcher who analyzed a month of Twitter posts related to MRI. He grouped the tweets into three broad categories, and then analyzed their content to see what insights they provided into the patient experience.
For example, the challenge of keeping still in the magnet was a common theme. And a number of patients tweeted their dissatisfaction at being unable to control the choice of music in the magnet bore.
A few even took self-portraits while waiting for their exams to start -- a trend the author dubbed the "MRI selfie."
Learn more by clicking here, or visit our MRI Community at mri.auntminnie.com.
PET/CT and stem cells
Finally, visit our Molecular Imaging Community for news about a new study that used PET/CT to predict the success of therapy for lymphoma using stem cell transplantation. That article is available by clicking here, or visit the community at molecular.auntminnie.com.
