Resident education in the health care reform environment: The role of organized radiology

Abstract

To summarize, the 10 actions I believe we should take are as follows: 1. Protect our patient base by institutional involvement and selected departmental outreach programs. 2. Reorganize our faculties and gain their support to meet the changes that will occur as a result of health care reengineering. 3. Restructure our residency and fellowship programs to adapt positively to the needs of a new delivery system. 4. Take a stand on resident/fellow training, accreditation issues, and program length and composition. 5. Develop a national program to continue to attract the best medical students into radiology. 6. Get the information needed to provide the best estimate of work force requirements and work toward achieving the proper balance between supply and demand. 7. Support subspecialization in our field. Quality eventually will be an issue. 8. Support research training for faculty and make research important. 9. Continue to present our field as an exciting place to be, which it is. 10. Support the AUR, the SCARD, and the APDR as the collective voice for academic radiology. Finally, I would like to challenge the AUR, the SCARD, and the APDR to unite to become a strong force in academic radiology. Academic radiology now has no singular voice. Radiologists in private practice have the ACR, neuroradiologists have the ASNR, vascular-interventional radiologists have the SCVIR, nuclear medicine radiologists have the Society of Nuclear Medicine, ultrasonographers have the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, and I can name many other important special interest groups within our field. No doubt, all these organizations share many of our common concerns and interests, but having an organization interested solely in the continued health of academic radiology is vital to our future and, because of the reengineering of the health care system, more important than ever. Academic radiology is in the unique position of being radiology's only supplier of human resources and research. We must make our voice heard on staff issues, training program changes, accreditation, certification, financing of graduate education, support for biomedical research, and all other matters important to our academic programs. Although we will be drawn into the delivery of managed care, we cannot afford to ignore our other two principal missions: education and research. If we do, all of radiology will suffer the consequences in years to come. So let's take up the challenge and make our three organizations a steady, consistent, rational but firm voice in the support of academic radiology. I believe that the future of radiology is bright, but we need to make it happen. Now is the time for action. Thank you for the invitation to present the Glen W. Hartman lecture. It is truly a great honor.