Evaluation of clinical experience in a radiology residency program with quantitative profiling: Rationale, methods, and application

Rationale and Objectives. The author developed a technique for residency pr ogram evaluation, called 'quantitative, profiling," that is based on comput er retrieval of radiologic reports. The hypothesis was that it would provid e insights into the contributions of residents to clinical service, measure s of resident experience and productivity for program evaluation, and bench marks for comparison. Materials and Methods. The radiology residency program of a major teaching hospital was studied retrospectively from 1989 to 1997. The number of radio logic reports signed by individual residents and faculty members was retrie ved. The clinical experience of the 1993-1997 cohort of residents was descr ibed according to subspecialty area and modality. Results. Residents signed 46.5% of all reports, with a mean total of 14,445 reports +/- 1,292 per resident during the entire residency. The distributi on of examinations was as follows: thoracic, 42.1%; musculoskeletal, 26.1%; abdominal, 13.4%: sonography, 8.7%; neuroradiology, 4.3%; nuclear, 2.4%; b reast, 1.6%; and vascular, 1.4%. The most frequently reported results were for one-view chest radiography. Conclusion. Quantitative profiling can help track the I and progress of res ident experience, help determine deployment of residents, and provide empir ical data upon which decisions to modify residency programs may be based.