Offering radiology subinternships to medical students can increase interest and improve perceptions of the field.
The Wake Forest School of Medicine started offering diagnostic radiology subinternships to fourth year medical students in 2020. Experts involved in the program recently shared details of its design and implementation, and how participants have gauged its benefits, in a new paper published on March 22 in Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology.
“For students, this experience provides valuable insight into life as a trainee and practicing physician in a specialty and also offers opportunities to learn valuable skills such as clinical documentation, order entry, and effective patient communication,” corresponding author of the paper Kevin D. Hiatt, MD, with the Department of Radiology at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, and colleagues explained. “In fact, a survey of over 20,000 internal medicine residents identified subinternships as the most helpful medical school course to prepare for internship.”
The Wake Forest diagnostic radiology subinternship program has been taking place for three years now. The four-week course includes daily shadowing shifts, small group lectures with attending radiologists, asynchronous self-paced learning assignments, an ultrasound skills session, multidisciplinary tumor boards and completion of case presentations. Participants also take on “junior resident” shifts that allow them to dictate studies under supervision. These rotations also include emergency call and ultrasound procedures shifts (both added after student feedback).
To date, a total of 47 fourth year medical students have completed the subinternship. Following its completion, students have reported significantly increased interest and understanding of the field of radiology, in addition to heightened comfort with image interpretation, patient care and procedures. The junior resident shifts and small group lectures have been reported as the most impactful aspects of the course.
Nearly half of those who have completed the training (45%) chose to apply to diagnostic radiology for residency—something the authors see as a sign of encouragement amid “waning student exposure” to radiology due to COVID. The authors noted that although such programs could be difficult to implement due to limited resources, they encourage other radiology departments to consider subinternships as a means of increasing interest in the specialty.
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In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She joined Innovate Healthcare in 2021 and has since put her unique expertise to use in her editorial role with Health Imaging.