The New Radiology Residency Fourth Year Under the New Curriculum: A Survey of Current Residents' Thoughts and Suggestions About Its Design and Purpose

Abstract

The ABR announced changes to the board examinations for the resident class entering in 2010. These changes can allow the fourth year to be focused on subspecialization. During the restructuring process at the authors' institution, residents were queried about fourth-year design. The goal was to create a curriculum that would best meet residents' expectations while balancing clinical and educational needs. Issues from the literature about the fourth-year curriculum were identified. An anonymous and voluntary survey based on these was developed and sent to 36 residents who made up the study group. Answers were reviewed for trends and significant unique responses before curricular development. Twenty-two of 36 residents (61%) responded. The most often selected electives were cardiac (91%), body MRI (77%), body interventional procedures (68%), neuroradiologic MRI (59%), musculoskeletal procedures (59%), and musculoskeletal imaging (54%). Fifty percent wanted 6 months in one area. Forty-five percent felt that the length of time in one area (most with a threshold of 9 months) would affect their decisions to pursue fellowships. The majority (73%) planned to use the fourth year to do rotations different from their planned fellowship areas. The majority of residents indicate that they would like to have at least half of their fourth year in one area, and most selected similar rotations to one another. The ability to do this extended time on one service may result in a decrease in the number of residents pursuing fellowships. However, most saw the fourth year as a way to broaden their radiologic knowledge.