Rationale and Objectives
To learn what percentage of US medical schools require their students to complete rotations in radiology during the clinical years. A secondary goal was to survey students’ opinions about radiology rotations.
Materials and Methods
Data were collected from 159 US medical schools from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) for allopathic medical schools, the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) for osteopathic medical schools, and by e-mailing curriculum directors at US medical schools with a survey. The secondary goal was achieved by e-mailing curriculum directors for voluntary medical student participation with an institutional review board–approved online survey.
Results
Data from the 2009–2010 academic year from AAMC and AACOM showed that 25% of US medical schools required radiology as a clinical rotation. Our survey of curriculum directors corroborated the AAMC and AACOM data. Data from our medical student survey showed that 87% of students from institutions requiring radiology thought radiology should be required. From institutions not requiring radiology, 45% of students thought that radiology should be required as a standalone course. Of students not required to take radiology, 63% planned to take radiology as an elective.
Conclusions
Students, regardless of requirements, think there is value in having radiology as a regular aspect of a medical school curriculum. Medical schools should consider ways of incorporating radiology into their clinical curriculum.
There has been a trend in medical education to diversify curricula by including required and elective courses in specialties other than the core of medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and psychiatry. When medical schools create their curricula, there are minimal data to suggest which secondary rotations would be most beneficial for their students. Students are often faced with critical decisions to determine electives during their clinical years that will help shape their practices in the future.
The purpose of this project was twofold: 1) To determine what percentage of allopathic and osteopathic medical schools in the United States require their students to complete rotations in radiology during their clinical years and 2) to survey current curricula trends and gather medical student opinions about radiology electives during the third and fourth years.
Materials and methods
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Table 1
Questions Asked of Curriculum Directors at US Medical Schools
1. Is radiology a required rotation during the clinical years? 2. If radiology is required, for what length must students take each of them? 3. For those rotations not required, what percentage of students choose to take either course? 4. Is a radiology/pathology combined course an available option for your students as a 4-week elective?
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Table 2
Electronic Survey Questions Posed to Third- and Fourth-year Medical Students
Question Answer Options What year in medical school are you currently? MSIII; MSIV Which medical school do you attend? Open-ended What is your gender? Male; Female What is your expected specialty? Open-ended Should radiology be a required rotation during the clinical years? Yes; no; unsure Which of the following rotations have you already had? Radiology; radiology/pathology combined; neither With regards to previous question, please specify the length of the rotation(s). Open-ended For an elective during the clinical years, which of the following electives do you plan on taking? Radiology; radiology/pathology combined; other elective Please rate the importance of having a basic fundamental knowledge in radiology for becoming a competent doctor. Not important; somewhat important; very important; most important
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Results
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Table 3
Demographics of Medical Students Who Responded to Survey
MS-IIIs 47% MS-IVs 53% Males 49% Females 51% Allopathic students 68% Osteopathic students 32% Institution not requiring radiology 71% Institution requiring radiology 29%
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Discussion
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Acknowledgments
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References
1. CurrMIT (Curriculum Management & Information Tool) Home - Services - AAMC. Available at: https://services.aamc.org/jsp/currmit . Accessed August 25, 2011.
2. American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, curriculum archives: 2009-2010 Weeks of Clinical Clerkships by Osteopathic Medical College (July 28, 2010). Available at: http://www.aacom.org/data/curriculum/Documents/2009-10Wks-Clinical-Clerkships-by-COM-100810.pdf . Accessed July 14, 2011.
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