MEDICAL-STUDENTS WHO CHOOSE A RADIOLOGY ELECTIVE - CAREER DECISIONS, MOTIVATIONS, AND INTENTIONS

Rationale and Objectives. A national survey of American medical studen ts was conducted to determine the effects of taking a radiology electi ve. The survey also probed attitudes of students not planning a career in radiology relative to the interpretation of medical images indepen dently of radiologists. Methods. The names of all students taking an e lective in radiology in 1993-1994 were solicited from all American med ical schools. Eighty-one of 124 radiology elective programs responded, and 3872 questionnaires were returned to the 81 medical schools for d elivery to the students. Approximately 25% of the questionnaires were returned, and data were derived from these. Results. Rarely did the ra diology elective influence a change (2.1%) from another specialty or p rimary care to radiology. Eighty-nine percent of the students sampled indicated that the elective had no effect on their decision. Of studen ts who were undecided about their careers, 13.2% indicated that the el ective changed their career choice, but 63.2% said the elective had no effect. The data revealed that there are multiple, often overlapping, reasons for a medical student not planning a career in radiology to c hoose a radiology elective. Most of the students (93.5%) expected to i nterpret radiographs or other medical images themselves and then corre late their impression with a radiologic report. However, 30% of the st udents planned to interpret some radiographs independently of radiolog ists, and another 15% expected to interpret medical images other then plain radiographs without a radiologic consultation. Conclusion. Our d ata suggest that attitudes regarding interpretation of radiographs or other medical images without involvement of a radiologist are ingraine d in medical students and correspond to attitudes among practicing cli nicians. There is an expectation among medical students that taking a 4-week elective is useful or even necessary to independently interpret radiographs in future clinical practice. The effect of these attitude s on the cost and quality of future medical care should engender consi derable concern, A basic conceptual change in the structure and conten t of the radiology elective is suggested.