title: Interpretive versus noninterpretive content in top-selling radiology textbooks: what are we teaching medical students?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There are little data as to whether appropriate, cost effective, and safe ordering of imaging examinations are adequately taught in US medical school curricula. We sought to determine the proportion of noninterpretive content (such as appropriate ordering) versus interpretive content (such as reading a chest x-ray) in the top-selling medical student radiology textbooks.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed an online search to identify a ranked list of the six top-selling general radiology textbooks for medical students. Each textbook was reviewed including content in the text, tables, images, figures, appendices, practice questions, question explanations, and glossaries. Individual pages of text and individual images were semiquantitatively scored on a six-level scale as to the percentage of material that was interpretive versus noninterpretive. The predominant imaging modality addressed in each was also recorded. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All six books had more interpretive content. On average, 1.4 pages of text focused on interpretation for every one page focused on noninterpretive content. Seventeen images/figures were dedicated to interpretive skills for every one focused on noninterpretive skills. In all books, the largest proportion of text and image content was dedicated to plain films (51.2%), with computed tomography (CT) a distant second (16%). The content on radiographs (3.1:1) and CT (1.6:1) was more interpretive than not.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current six top-selling medical student radiology textbooks contain a preponderance of material teaching image interpretation compared to material teaching noninterpretive skills, such as appropriate imaging examination selection, rational utilization, and patient safety.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, 505 Parnassus Avenue, M-391, San Francisco, CA 94143-0628. Electronic address: emily.webb@ucsf.edu.
authors.forename: Emily M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Webb
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, 505 Parnassus Avenue, M-391, San Francisco, CA 94143-0628.
authors.forename: Maya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vella
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Straus
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, 505 Parnassus Avenue, M-391, San Francisco, CA 94143-0628.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Phelps
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, 505 Parnassus Avenue, M-391, San Francisco, CA 94143-0628.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Naeger
mesh_terms: D003479:Curriculum; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006801:Humans; D011871:Radiology / Q000193:education*; D013337:Students, Medical; D013782:Textbooks as Topic; D014481:United States
keywords: Medical student; appropriate utilization; interpretive content; noninterpretive content; radiology textbooks