Automation of Educational Tasks for Academic Radiology

Rationale and Objectives

The process of education involves a variety of repetitious tasks. We believe that appropriate computer tools can automate many of these chores, and allow both educators and their students to devote a lot more of their time to actual teaching and learning. This paper details tools that we have used to automate a broad range of academic radiology-specific tasks on Mac OS X, iOS, and Windows platforms. Some of the tools we describe here require little expertise or time to use; others require some basic knowledge of computer programming.

Materials and Methods

We used TextExpander (Mac, iOS) and AutoHotKey (Win) for automated generation of text files, such as resident performance reviews and radiology interpretations. Custom statistical calculations were performed using TextExpander and the Python programming language. A workflow for automated note-taking was developed using Evernote (Mac, iOS, Win) and Hazel (Mac). Automated resident procedure logging was accomplished using Editorial (iOS) and Python. We created three variants of a teaching session logger using Drafts (iOS) and Pythonista (iOS). Editorial and Drafts were used to create flashcards for knowledge review. We developed a mobile reference management system for iOS using Editorial. We used the Workflow app (iOS) to automatically generate a text message reminder for daily conferences. Finally, we developed two separate automated workflows—one with Evernote (Mac, iOS, Win) and one with Python (Mac, Win)—that generate simple automated teaching file collections.

Results

We have beta-tested these workflows, techniques, and scripts on several of our fellow radiologists. All of them expressed enthusiasm for these tools and were able to use one or more of them to automate their own educational activities.

Conclusions

Appropriate computer tools can automate many educational tasks, and thereby allow both educators and their students to devote a lot more of their time to actual teaching and learning.

Introduction

Academic life and real life abound with a large number of dull and repetitious tasks. We believe that many of these tasks should be handed over to one’s computer. This paper details a number of specific tasks that we have automated in our radiological lives, as well as the tools we have used to accomplish this.

Some tasks are quick and easy to automate. Others require a lot of time and programming skills. Thus, one of the very first decisions one needs to make is whether a given task is worth automating. The following diagrams from the xkcd website summarize this issue nicely ( Fig 1 ).

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Simple Automation Tools

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Simple Text Macros

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Signature Files

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Atticus Finch, M.D. Professor, Department of Radiology Enormous State University

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Expense Report Template

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Atticus Finch Expenses Expense type: RSNA Event: categorical course Date: December 2015 Amount: $250 Date Submitted: 2015–08–15

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Resident Performance Review Template

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Resident Performance Review Resident name: Scout Finch Rotation: Musculoskeletal Educational attitude: excellent—has read major text—now reviewing latest MSK literature Work ethic: awesome—comes early, stays late—reads the skeletal surveys Technical skills: $excellent—arthrograms and biopsies done efficiently with minimal fluoro time Report generation: $extremely efficient—generates 60–70 draft dictations per day Date Submitted: 2015–10–06

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Report Generation

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Automated Note-taking with Evernote and Hazel

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Scripting with Python or Ruby

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Procedure Logging

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Logging Teaching Sessions

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Workflow 1 with Drafts4—Timestamp Only

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Steps ( Figs 10 and 11 )

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Workflow 2 with Drafts 4—Timestamp + GPS Coordinates

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Workflow 3 with Drafts4 and Pythonista—Timestamp + Reverse GPS Lookup

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Table 1

A Sample Teaching Session Log From Workflow 3 Using Reverse Geocoding to Obtain Physical Addresses \*

Date and Time Address City Comments Site 2015–08–24–13–03–10 1504 Taub Loop Houston 60 min resident didactic lecture Ben Taub Hospital 2015–08–25–19–15–08 1515 Holcombe Boulevard Houston 60 min grand rounds MD Anderson Cancer Center 2015–08–27–09–04–50 2002 Holcombe Boulevard Houston 60 min medical student lecture Michael DeBakey VAMC 2015–08–28–13–05–24 6621 Fannin Street Houston 60 min resident noon conference Texas Children’s Hospital 2015–08–30–18–33–03 1959 Pacific Blvd NE Seattle 60 min grand rounds University of Washington Medical Center

From these physical addresses, it is easy to sort the teaching sites retrospectively and append site names, as shown in the fifth column.

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Flashcard Generation with Editorial and Drafts

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Mobile Reference Management

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Download an Entire Issue of PDF Files From a Journal

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Custom Statistical Calculations

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Workflow App

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Automated Teaching File Collection

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Simple Teaching File Workflow 1

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Simple Teaching File Workflow 2

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Conclusions

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Appendix

Supplementary material

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Appendix S1

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Appendix S2

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Appendix S3

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Appendix S4

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Appendix S5

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Appendix S6

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Appendix S7

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Appendix S8

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Appendix S9

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Appendix S10

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Appendix S11

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Appendix S12

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Appendix S13

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Automation of Educational Tasks for Academic Radiology

Rationale and Objectives

Materials and Methods

Results

Conclusions

Introduction

Simple Automation Tools

Simple Text Macros

Signature Files

Expense Report Template

Resident Performance Review Template

Report Generation

Automated Note-taking with Evernote and Hazel

Scripting with Python or Ruby

Procedure Logging

Logging Teaching Sessions

Workflow 1 with Drafts4—Timestamp Only

Steps ( Figs 10 and 11 )

Workflow 2 with Drafts 4—Timestamp + GPS Coordinates

Workflow 3 with Drafts4 and Pythonista—Timestamp + Reverse GPS Lookup

Flashcard Generation with Editorial and Drafts

Mobile Reference Management

Download an Entire Issue of PDF Files From a Journal

Custom Statistical Calculations

Workflow App

Automated Teaching File Collection

Simple Teaching File Workflow 1

Simple Teaching File Workflow 2

Conclusions

Appendix

Supplementary material

References

Further Reading

“What Program Directors Think” III Results of the 2014/2015 Annual Surveys of the Association of Program Directors in Radiology (APDR)

Brain Friendly Teaching—Reducing Learner's Cognitive Load

Designing Radiology Outcomes Studies—Essential Principles