Patterns of professional organization membership among radiologists in the United States

The extent of membership in a professional association is an indicator of the level of cohesiveness or fragmentation of the profession. In this study, membership patterns in the American College of Radiology (ACR) were examined to assess how much different groups within radiology identify with the profession.

Patterns of membership in the ACR, the principal professional organization (as opposed to scientific society) of American radiologists, were examined by studying different demographic and professional groups within radiology. Data from the 1990 American Medical Association (AMA) Physician Masterfile were matched with ACR membership data for post-training radiologists and nuclear medicine specialists.

Seventy-four percent of post-training American Board of Radiology (ABR)--certified diagnostic radiologists and radiation oncologists were ACR members. Membership rates were significantly lower for radiologists who were the following: 1) younger than 45 years of age; 2) women; 3) located in the western United States; 4) not certified by the ABR; or 5) listed their major professional activity as administration, teaching and research, or exclusively hospital-based patient care. Logit analysis showed that each of the above factors had a statistically significant effect on membership independently of the others. There were no statistically significant differences in membership rates between diagnostic radiologists and radiation oncologists, or between diagnostic subspecialists and diagnostic generalists. Among those with ABR certification, there was no significant difference between nuclear medicine specialists and other radiologists.

The data suggest that, to increase the size and representativeness of ACR membership, target areas for recruitment effort might include younger radiologists, female radiologists, and radiologists located in the western United States.