Dear Residents Insider,
At radiology meetings and in academia, one hears a lot about superlative radiology residents who have led important research efforts, put in long hours under exhausting circumstances, and generally made their program directors proud.
But there's another side of the story: residents who, hard as they might try, fall short of what they're expected to accomplish. The so-called deficiencies aren't the end of the world, necessarily, but they need to be addressed proactively, completely, and as early as possible, according to Dr. Carol Rumack from the University of Colorado, who is tasked with addressing the most serious problems.
In this issue's Insider Exclusive, program directors can find tips on keeping residents learning, and residents can learn more about what is expected of them.
Certainly it's not always the residents' fault when things go wrong. In a story that's been clicked and shared and emailed around the world, the sad tale of a New York City hospital's residency program has struck a nerve with residents concerned about the future of their own programs. In a letter sent to residents earlier this month, St. Barnabas Hospital abruptly moved to end its radiology residency program and shift the money into an expanded primary care program, adding insult to injury by refusing to fund the radiology slots in another institution. For the rest of the story, click here.
In other news, radiology residents do very well on overnight call, only occasionally missing an important finding that is picked up when the images are reviewed by a more experienced reader. Find out what was missed most often at one institution by clicking here.
And be sure to stay tuned to your Resident's Digital Community for the latest news -- whether you're trying to survive a radiology residency program or manage one.
