2023 ARRS ANNUAL MEETING - ABSTRACTS

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1998. Point-of-Care Radiology Education for Medical Students
Authors * Denotes Presenting Author
  1. Chukwuemeka Okoro *; Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; UC San Diego Medical Center
  2. Edward Smitaman; UC San Diego Medical Center
Objective:
With more than 60% of medical schools eliminating their dedicated, radiology clerkships, a growing need to integrate radiology education seamlessly into nonradiology clerkships like internal medicine and surgery has risen. Radiology education is an integral part of the clinical clerkships due to increasing recognition of the central role played by imaging in the delivery of medical care. There is insufficient teaching during undergraduate medical school curriculum leaving the students under-prepared for the responsibilities of internship. Existing methods to address this educational gap include Zoom conferences, online modules, and internet reference sites, each with unique strengths and limitations. Clinical radiology rotations have traditionally consisted of passive learning in the form of didactic lectures and an observational experience gained from shadowing radiologists in the reading room. This kind of observational learning is problematic due to a busy work environment, interruptions, and complexity of clinical cases, which precludes the faculty from providing the best and most useful experience to the medical students in the reading room. Also, millennial learners prefer collaborative learning, integrated digital resources, and technologically savvy instructors.

Materials and Methods:
In this work, we use focused interviews with medical students to understand the behavioral considerations that fundamentally limit the impact of existing methods in effectively delivering radiology education to medical students across the United States. We then demonstrate a system that brings actionable radiology knowledge into the line of sight of medical students.

Results:
This work introduced the notion of point-of-care collaboration and demonstrate its application in the Human Disease Project (HDP), involving residents and faculty at over 30 radiology programs across the country. This project assisted medical students in refining their differential diagnosis using the lens of radiology and to properly order a radiologic study with imaging appropriateness guidance for more than 10,000 disease entities. We present an overview of the trainee and faculty workflows, as well as data on the unprecedented pace of this collaboration.

Conclusion:
The American College of Radiology (ACR) task force on medical student education and the Alliance of Medical Student Educators in Radiology published a study recommending (i) increased availability of digital imaging resources for students, (ii) early exposure of radiology in the medical school curriculum, and (iii) support to teaching faculty. HDP provides a high-utility integrated system for teaching medical students. We discuss the anticipated strengths and limitations of this method and speculate on future capabilities of this system, such as mentorship based on detected clinical interests. Finally, we share options for the audience to engage by enrolling their programs in medical school pilots in our next phase of this study involving deployment into non-radiology medical school clerkships.