Radiology Boot Camp: Facilitating the Transition of Interns into Residents

Abstract

It is no secret that transitions inmedical education are challengingand inherently stressful. New in-ternsstrugglewithalackofmedicalknowledge, poor organizationalskills, inadequate ability to reflectand self-assess, and underdevelo-ped professionalism, most oftenattributed to a lack of thoroughpreparation in medical school [1-3]. Then, after a year of clinicalpracticeinmedicineorsurgeryoratransitional year, the transition toradiology residency presents a newsetofchallenges.Theradiologyres-ident is no longer the the primarycontact in direct patient care anddecisionmaking,butisexpectedtobe an imaging consultant, operat-ing largely behind the scenes in anunfamiliar specialty [4-6]. Few res-idents gain skills and experienceswith imaging modalities and stud-ies during medical school and in-ternship, so they find themselves asnovices once again [7]. Additionalstresses are created by having toadapt to a hospital-based learningenvironmentand,often,anewpro-gram director and set of peers. Ourspecialty’s reliance on the internetanddigitaldevicesforaccessinged-ucational material requires a highlevel of technological savvy [8,9].Thevolumeandcomplexityofnewinformation to be assimilated canparalyze and demoralize any newradiology resident.Research on “resident readiness”suggests the usefulness of focusededucationalinterventionstoimprovethe clinical orientation process andincrease residents’ confidence [2,6,7,10-13].Asmallbutgrowingcollec-tion of literature has focused on“boot camps,” which are being usedin graduate medical education tomaximize fundamental teachingtime while fostering team building[5,11].Colloquially, “boot camp” refersto military recruit training as anabrupt,oftenshockingtransitiontoanew way of life, with strict disciplineand an emphasis on hard work andphysical conditioning. Companiesalso use boot camps to immerse re-cruitsinbothtechnicalskillsandcor-porateculture.Asaresult,therecruitsdevelop strong bonds to their peersand the organization [14]. Havingpeerstheycanrelyonhelpsresidentscopeandalleviatessomeofthenega-tive effects of high stress levels.The literature on preparation andreadiness for radiology is sparse butemerging. One program’s lecture se-ries designed specifically for incom-ing residents resulted in an increasein residents’ confidence (althoughclinical performance improvementcould not be demonstrated) [7].Inanotherprogram,theadditionofres-ident-to-resident role-oriented pre-sentations decreased anxiety andincreased role awareness more thanlectures alone [6].