Administrative organization in diagnostic radiology residency program leadership

The aim of this study was to document the current state of administrative structure in US diagnostic radiology (DR) residency program leadership. A secondary objective was to assess for correlation(s), if any, with DR residency programs that equipped positions such as assistant, associate, and emeritus program director (PD) with respect to residency size and region of the country.

The Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database, as well as direct communication and programmatic Web site searches, were used to gather data regarding current US DR residency leadership. Data collected included the presence of additional leadership titles, including assistant PD, associate PD, and PD emeritus, and how many faculty members currently held each position. Programs were excluded if results could not be identified. Analysis of variance and t tests were used to estimate the correlations of the size of a residency with having additional or shared PD positions and the types of positions, respectively. Chi-square tests were used to assess for any regional differences.

As of the time of this project, the Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database defined 186 US DR residency programs. A total of 173 programs (93%) were included in the analysis; the remainder were excluded because of unavailability of relevant data. Seventy-two percent (124 of 173) of programs had additional DR leadership positions. Of these, 30 programs (17%) had more than one such position. There were no significant differences in the sizes of the programs that used these additional positions (mean, 25 ± 12; range, 6-72) compared with those that did not (mean, 24 ± 12; range, 7-51). There were no significant differences between programs that had additional positions with respect to region of the country.

The majority of US DR residency programs used some form of additional DR leadership position. In the majority of cases, this was in the form of an assistant or associate PD. Nearly one-fifth of programs studied had more than one such position. This is a positive model for the depth and breadth of management of US residency programs, serving both as a template for matrixed leadership and as a source of leadership succession planning.