E1433. Implementation of a National Medical Student-Led Diagnostic Radiology Competition
Authors
Max Goodman;
Medical College of Wisconsin
Christopher Kurylo;
Medical College of Wisconsin
Paul Peso;
Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine
Sophia Liang;
Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine
Dennis Zhou;
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Keith Baynes;
Medical College of Wisconsin
Objective:
50% of medical school deans and radiology chairs believe more radiology involvement is needed in medical student education. Diagnostic radiology residents may participate in an annual imaging tournament that enables residents to engage in friendly competition, network with peers, and practice for board examinations. Medical students would likely enjoy a similar activity, which could increase their interest in radiology, but have not been afforded such opportunities. Additionally, students may appreciate a radiology competition as an educational tool. We therefore sought to design and implement potentially the first national medical student radiology competition in the United States. We also wished to determine the impact of a radiology competition for medical students on their perceptions of radiology as a career path via survey.
Materials and Methods:
In October 2021, a draft version of the competition rules and format was emailed to medical schools in the United States. Medical school radiology clubs were preferably contacted first followed by radiology departments and student affairs offices. Shareholders, including radiology club representatives and medical students nationwide, were invited to an online meeting in December 2021 to refine the competition’s format. A qualitative survey was developed to assess and understand the competition’s impact on medical students' perception of diagnostic radiology. Medical student participants were emailed a link to the survey following tournament completion. Statements were assessed on a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 representing “completely agree” and 5 representing “completely disagree.” Data were analyzed utilizing a Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and p-value (p < 0.05) was considered to be significant.
Results:
89 medical schools were contacted, and 16 agreed to participate. The format of eight rounds of five questions each over four months was decided. Questions varied in points depending on difficulty; 46.5% of questions included x-ray imaging, 20.9% were CT, and the remaining included MRI, ultrasound, and nuclear imaging. 34.1% of question topics were gastrointestinal, 22.7% were musculoskeletal, 18.2% were cardiac, and the remaining were pulmonological, renal, neurological, and other. Questions were written by medical students and were approved by faculty. Schools were awarded points after each round for total score and average score per student category. Ann average of 187 medical students participated per round. No question was successfully challenged, and students left favorable comments. Survey results suggest the competition increased students’ confidence in interpreting imaging studies and enhanced their medical education training in radiology (p = 0.00003), but it did not increase interest in radiology as a career path (p = 0.77).
Conclusion:
We successfully designed a national radiology competition for medical students, which increased student engagement and experience in radiology. Radiology competitions can also serve as an educational tool to practice reading images.
