What's in a Name? US Academic Radiology Departments: Investigation of the Frequency of and Associated Factors in Nontraditional Department Titles

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The aim of this project was to survey the department titles of US academic radiology programs and to assess the frequency of nontraditional titles. A secondary aim was to evaluate whether there were any similarities among departments that were not traditionally titled Department of Radiology with respect to factors such as department size, affiliation, research emphasis, and geography. Departments were identified on the basis of the Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database Access System, the Association of American Medical Colleges list of US medical schools, and the Society of Chairs of Academic Radiology Departments member roster. A total of 212 departments were evaluated, and the title of each department was obtained. Additionally, the size of the faculty, the number of diagnostic radiology residents (if applicable), whether the department offered fellowship positions, the number of nuclear medicine residents (if applicable), geographic region, and National Institutes of Health funding ranking for fiscal year 2009 (if applicable) were obtained for each program. Two hundred twelve programs were evaluated, from which 196 departments were ultimately included in the analysis. Of these, 159 (81%) had the title Department of Radiology. Twenty-two other titles were identified among the remaining 37 departments. Common words included in these titles were imaging, science or sciences, and services. There were no significant differences between the departments titled Department of Radiology and the departments with other names with respect to size, research affiliation, residency and fellowship size, or geography. Although only 19% of the departments analyzed had titles other than Department of Radiology, several trends were noted. With the expanding scope of radiology to include modalities not associated with ionizing radiation, such as ultrasound, MR, and molecular imaging, along with the growing importance of defining radiologists' role in the health care system and increasing patient concerns over the potential dangers of radiation, it remains to be seen whether additional departments elect to modify their names or whether Department of Radiology continues as the most common title.