Early and Increased Training in Veterinary Radiology Increases Student Interest in the Specialty But May Provide...

There is a lack of consensus among educators regarding the ideal structure of radiology training in veterinary medicine. Research in the medical field suggests that early integration has positive short- and long-term impacts on student interest in radiology. This study evaluated the effect of a new radiology course in the first year of the veterinary curriculum. Authors hypothesized that students taught radiology in years 1 and 2 would have greater interest in and appreciation for the specialty of radiology and would perform better on tests of basic knowledge of medical imaging principles, entry-level image interpretation, and anatomy identification than students who were not taught until year 2. An online questionnaire was administered to different classes of students after completion of their radiology courses. Students with early and increased radiology training were significantly more likely to respond that radiology was more interesting than other veterinary specialties. Unexpectedly, students with early and increased training performed significantly better than students with less and later training on only one out of nine content knowledge questions, though they did perform significantly better on additional knowledge questions compared to students with only early exposure. This suggests early and increased training in radiology may increase student interest in and appreciation for the specialty, but may not lead to increased short-term knowledge retention compared to a traditional curriculum format.