Radiology on the air. A continuing medical education experiment.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of Radiology on the Air was to assess the technical and educational feasibility of providing radiologic continuing medical education via a fully interactive live telecommunications network.


METHODS
Thirty-nine radiologic conferences were broadcast over the communications network of the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina (MCNC). Category 1 credit for the Physicians Recognition Award of the American Medical Association was available to participants who returned a completed program evaluation sheet by mail.


RESULTS
Three participating academic institutions regularly offered the programming to a total of 684 participants, of whom 129 viewed programs at distant sites. Despite adequate-to-excellent technical quality and positive feedback concerning educational content, no continuing medical education (CME) credits were issued by the parent institution.


CONCLUSIONS
The Radiology on the Air experiment suggests that a live telecommunications network is a capable vehicle for providing CME in radiology.
Auringer
S T
ST
Department of Radiology, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 25157-1088.
D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D011871:Radiology / Q000193:education*; D013685:Telecommunications