Quantifying and Characterizing Trainee Participation in a Major Academic Radiology Department

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Radiology
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Trainees are crucial for medical services in academic centers.
• The extent of trainee contribution in radiology is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the proportion of radiology reports involving trainees in a large academic radiology department.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 607,074 radiology reports from July 2015 to June 2016.
• Examined trainee co-signature rates across modalities, patient settings, and subspecialty divisions.
• Statistical comparison using Chi-square tests.

Main Results:

• Trainees co-signed 39.4% of reports.
• Involvement varied widely by division (7.1% to 99.2%) and modality (CT: 67.0%, MRI: 60.9%, Ultrasound: 15.3%).
• Higher trainee involvement was observed in emergency department (58.0%) and inpatient (43.4%) settings compared to outpatient (33.9%).

Conclusions:

• Less than half of imaging studies in this academic radiology department involved trainees.
• Data suggests potential disparities in trainee educational experiences.
• Further studies are needed to monitor and improve national radiology trainee education.