A Survey of Academic Radiology Department Chairs on Hiring Recent Graduates as New Attending Physicians

To determine hiring preferences among academic radiology department chairs with emphasis on recent residency and fellowship graduates.

With the assistance of the Society of Chairs of Academic Radiology Departments (SCARD), an anonymous survey was distributed to academic radiology department chairs during the time period December 2014-March 2015, with additional reminder emails during the study period. Varied multiple choice questions were designed to gather information regarding program details; qualities most valued in new attending hires; level of difficulty recruiting subspecialty fellowship-trained radiologists; and the effect of the new ABR certification process on hiring practices. Descriptive statistics and analyses are reported.

Surveys were completed by 79 of 184 eligible academic radiology chairs, a response rate of 43%. The most important hiring criteria cited were expertise in subspecialty, fellowship training, and perceived ability to work well with referring physicians. The most popular recruitment tools cited were hiring candidates from a chair's own program, journal ads, and academic networks. A minority of chairs (16%), primarily those of smaller departments, will not hire new graduates before completing board certification under the new certification structure (P = .0143).

Expertise in a candidate's subspecialty was consistently cited as the most important hiring criterion. Changes to the ABR certification process, however, will affect hiring decisions, particularly within smaller academic departments.