THE EFFECT OF PRERADIOLOGY CLINICAL-TRAINING ON THE PERFORMANCE OF RADIOLOGY RESIDENTS

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES. A multi-institutional study was developed to evaluate whether having preradiology clinical training has an effect on the quality of performance of radiology residents assessed both aft er 1 year of training and at the end of the 4-year residency. MATERIAL AND METHODS. Five faculty members from each of nine collaborating ins titutions that accept residents both directly from medical school and with postgraduate clinical training completed 1,015 evaluation forms o n their 203 residents who had just completed their first year of radio logy training or had finished training in the past 2 years. Each resid ent was evaluated by two senior faculty, two junior faculty, and the r esidency program director using a cross-institutionally validated, beh avior-oriented, standardized instrument that assessed five behavioral characteristics: conscientiousness, curiosity, interpersonal skills, c onfidence, and recognition of limits. The differences between resident s who did and did not have preradiology clinical training were evaluat ed by analysis of variance and by simple effects testing. RESULTS. At the conclusion of training, no significant differences in resident per formance were found between residents who did and did not have postgra duate clinical training before radiology residency. Among residents wh o had just finished their first year of training, those who had had cl inical training scored significantly higher on four of the five behavi oral scales. CONCLUSIONS. Clinical training before radiology residency does not correlate with any measurable benefit in performance at the end of radiology residency. Training programs should consider eliminat ion of this requirement.