Interventional Radiology Education for Improving Primary Care Provider Awareness

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Interventional Radiology
• Diagnostic Imaging

Background:

• Referring physicians often lack comprehensive knowledge of interventional radiology (IR) procedures.
• Effective communication and education are crucial for optimizing patient care pathways involving IR.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of a lecture series on emergency medicine and internal medicine residents' awareness and knowledge of common IR procedures.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of didactic educational interventions in bridging knowledge gaps in IR.

Main Methods:

• A two-part lecture series covering indications, contraindications, imaging, preparation, complications, and follow-up of common IR procedures was delivered.
• Pre- and post-lecture assessments were administered to measure knowledge gain, with paired t-tests used for analysis.
• Participants included 77 emergency and internal medicine resident physicians.

Main Results:

• Significant knowledge improvement was observed post-lectures, with scores increasing from 36% to 82% for the first lecture and 44% to 65% for the second.
• The results indicate a substantial increase in understanding of the IR procedures discussed (P<0.001).

Conclusions:

• Lecture series are effective educational tools for increasing resident knowledge of IR procedures.
• These initiatives successfully raise awareness of the interventional radiology specialty among referring medical providers.