Curriculum

Diagnostic Radiology Curriculum

THE PROGRAM

(NRMP # 1903420C0)

The philosophy of the program allows residents to assume a large amount of clinical responsibility while remaining under the supervision of the radiology faculty. The complete program (NRMP 1903420CO) includes a clinical year under the supervision of the Transitional Year Program faculty followed by four years of diagnostic radiology.

CLINICAL YEAR

The clinical year is provided through the Brookwood Baptist Health's Transitional Year program and is specifically designed to expose the incoming radiology resident to specific subspecialty areas where knowledge of the clinical and surgical aspects of disease processes in that subspecialty are important for understanding and interpreting the radiological findings.

Rotations in the Transitional Year program include general surgery, ambulatory medicine, inpatient general internal medicine and critical care medicine, as well as electives. The last month of this clinical year is spent in a diagnostic radiology rotation.

The clinical year in our Transitional Year program is granted automatically through the NRMP match process. If you successfully match into the Diagnostic Radiology program, then you are also automatically matched into the Transitional Year program.

DIAGNOSTIC RADIOLOGY

There are typically three residents at each level of training in the program. Exceptions have been made by the ACGME to allow additional residents at any given time under extraordinary circumstances. Occasionally, one of the residents in the clinical year switches to another specialty creating an opening in the four-year program. PGY-2 applicants to the four-year program must have completed at least one year of clinical training in an ACGME accredited program.

Over the four-year program, 41 months of clinical diagnostic radiology rotations are provided at Brookwood Baptist Health teaching hospitals, equally divided between the Grandview Medical Center campus and the Princeton Baptist Medical Center campus. These rotations provide training in mammography, vascular and interventional radiology, neuroradiology, nuclear medicine, diagnostic ultrasound, vascular ultrasound, gastrointestinal radiology, genitourinary radiology, chest radiology and skeletal radiology. Five months of clinical diagnostic radiology rotations are performed outside of Brookwood Baptist Health teaching hospitals, with four months at The Children’s Hospital of Alabama for pediatric radiology, and one month at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital for cardiac radiology. There is an opportunity for 2 one month electives including one month at the American Institute for Radiologic Pathology (AIRP) Radiologic Pathology Correlation Course. Didactic courses in radiologic physics are offered at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital as one or two-hour lectures over approximately eight weeks each year. Residents are required to take the American College of Radiology In-Training Examination each year.

The following table summarizes the subspecialty training residents receive in the diagnostic radiology program. The subspecialties are those recognized by the American Board of Radiology:

Mammography

3 Month

CV Radiology (UAB)

1 Months

Interventional Radiology

6 Months

Neuroradiology

6 Months

Pediatric Radiology (Children’s)

4 Months

Nuclear Medicine

5 Months

Ultrasound

3 Months

GI Radiology

5 Months

GU Radiology

4 Months

Chest Radiology

4 Months

Skeletal Radiology

5 Months

AIRP

1 Months

Elective

1 Months

TOTAL

48 Months

SPECIFIC ROTATIONS

Assignments during the first year of radiology training include one month of inpatient fluoroscopy, one month of nuclear medicine, five months of imaging rotations (computed tomography, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging), two months of chest radiology and plain films, one month of pediatric radiology and two months of outpatient radiology.

The second year assignments include three months of angiography, one month of inpatient fluoroscopy, one month of nuclear medicine, three months of imaging rotations (computed tomography, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging), two months of outpatient radiology, one month of breast imaging, one month of pediatric radiology and three months of cardiovascular and interventional radiology.

Physics courses during the first and second years cover general radiation physics, radiation biology and the physics of computed tomography, ultrasound, digital imaging and magnetic resonance imaging. Physics of nuclear medicine including quality control and safety are included in the first two years.

During the third year, clinical assignments include three months of cardiovascular and interventional radiology, one month of chest radiology, two months of outpatient radiology, one month of pediatric radiology, and four months of imaging rotations (computed tomography, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging) and one month at the American Institute for Radiologic Pathology. Third year physics includes a general review of physics in preparation for the American Board of Radiology Diagnositc Core Examination.

Fourth year rotations include two months of cardiovascular and interventional radiology, two months of nuclear medicine, two months of imaging (computed tomography, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging), one month of breast imaging, two months of outpatient radiology, one month of cardiac radiology, one month of pediatric radiology, and one month of elective time.

CONFERENCES AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Throughout the four-year program, daily conferences are held or supervised by the program faculty at each hospital. Other conferences include monthly resident conferences, inter-departmental resident conferences, pathology-radiology conferences and guest lecturers. Frequent informal clinical, radiological and pathological case reviews are conducted on cases of special interest. The residents are also invited to attend the various medical and surgical conferences and grand rounds.

Brookwood Baptist Health educational materials are available including a subscription to StatDx/RadPrimer.

RADIOLOGY FACULTY AND HOSPITAL FACILITIES

Sixteen diagnostic radiologists are involved with resident education in our program in addition to the faculty at the University of Alabama Hospital and the Children’s Hospital of Alabama. Faculty subspecialization includes fellowship training in interventional radiology, neuroradiology, abdominal imaging, musculoskeletal radiology and nuclear medicine. In addition, three radiation oncologists and a radiation physicist are available for consultation.

State-of-the-art imaging equipment, including six MR scanners and nine CT scanners, is present within our system. State of the art nuclear medicine equipment is available including PET-CT at both hospitals. More than 100,000 diagnostic radiological studies are done each year at each hospital, including several hundred interventional procedures at each hospital.

Radiology residents participate daily in radiological examinations and interpretation, and each resident will perform numerous vascular and image-guided interventional procedures during their training. During the nuclear medicine rotations, residents become familiar with PET and SPECT scintillation cameras, total body scanners, dosage calculation and administration, patient positioning, instrumentation and interpretation.

RESIDENTS

Over the years, many residents completing our program have completed fellowship training at numerous institutions across the country. Residents have entered practice in both academic and private settings and are practicing not only in the southeast but across the country.