Fundamentals course for 1st-year radiology residents.
OBJECTIVE
The authors set out to provide 1st-year residents with basic knowledge to make conferences more useful, to make their knowledge more uniform, and to assess their competency to begin night call.


METHODS
Faculty taught three afternoon sessions a week in subspecialty areas of radiology, including physics, during the 1st 6 months of residency. Material selected was believed to be essential for the understanding of that subspecialty's didactic lecture series. Emphasis was also placed on diagnoses residents would be expected to make once they began taking night call. Material was presented through lectures, images, and unknown cases. An examination was administered at the end of the course. Residents were allowed to begin night call only after completing the course and passing the final examination.


RESULTS
All 1st-year residents completed the course and passed the examination. Their scores ranged from 70% to 83.3%.


CONCLUSIONS
Residents liked the course and reported feeling ready to begin call. Faculty reported the residents who completed the course were more knowledgeable prior to formal rotations than residents from previous years who had not taken the course.
Oldham
S A
SA
Department of Radiology, University of Texas Houston Medical School 77030, USA.
Rawal
A
A
Chan
J D
JD
Harle
T S
TS
Goldman
S M
SM
D005180:Faculty, Medical / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D011786:Quality Control; D011871:Radiology / Q000193:education*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires