title: Who We Are and What We Can Become: An Analysis of Professional Identity Formation in IR.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To characterize the unique experiences, values, and perspectives of interventional radiology (IR) fellows.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixteen fellows from 4 US vascular and IR programs were interviewed within 2 months of beginning and 2-3 months following their 2015-2016 fellowships about patient interactions, training experiences, and views of IR and other specialties. Interviews were systematically analyzed for dominant themes by using constructivist grounded theory. Four interviews with 2015-2016 interventional cardiology fellows, 16 interviews with IR attending physicians, and online descriptions of IR were also analyzed for context. Themes were compared qualitatively and quantitatively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Interobserver agreement was good for interview themes (κ = 0.70; P < .0001). IR fellows' professional identity emerged primarily from radiologic and surgical interests, with distinct emphasis on being "innovators," "thinking differently," and "needing to adapt and advertise abilities to survive." Fellows' descriptions of patient care were more clinically focused than past interviews with attending physicians (P = .05), but clinical interests common in medical specialties were limited, and descriptions of "nonprocedural patient care" were primarily periprocedural (81%). Descriptions of the future of the field conveyed competing pressures, loose role definition, and disconnect between academic and private-practice IR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  IR fellows share professional interests, views of their field and others, and descriptions of patient care, but there is uncertainty regarding future roles of the specialty and a need for more specific and unified definitions of nonprocedural patient care in IR.
authors.affiliation: Center for Bioethics & Medical Humanities, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 737 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1600, Chicago, IL 60611; Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 737 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1600, Chicago, IL 60611. Electronic address: eric.keller@northwestern.edu.
authors.forename: Eric J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.affiliation: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 737 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1600, Chicago, IL 60611.
authors.forename: Katherine A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: McGee
authors.affiliation: Division of Interventional Radiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 737 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1600, Chicago, IL 60611.
authors.forename: Scott A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Resnick
authors.affiliation: Division of Interventional Radiology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Scott O
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Trerotola
authors.affiliation: Division of Interventional Radiology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Karim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Valji
authors.affiliation: Division of Interventional Radiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana.
authors.forename: Matthew S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Division of Interventional Radiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 737 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1600, Chicago, IL 60611.
authors.forename: Jeremy D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.affiliation: Division of Interventional Radiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 737 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1600, Chicago, IL 60611.
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Vogelzang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005257:Fellowships and Scholarships; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D024382:Professional Role; D000072177:Radiologists / Q000523:psychology*; D015642:Radiology, Interventional; D014481:United States