Analysis of the French national evaluation of radiology residents

French survey of sedation practices for pediatric magnetic resonance and computed tomography imaging

BACKGROUND

Pediatric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tompgraphy (CT) require patient immobility and therefore often require sedation or general anesthesia of patients. Consensus on these procedures is lacking in France.

OBJECTIVE

Thus, the aim of this study was to describe the current sedation practices for pediatric MRI and CT in France.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

From January 2019 to December 2019, an online questionnaire was delivered by electronic mail to a representative radiologist in 60 pediatric radiology centers registered by the French-speaking pediatric and prenatal imaging society. Questions included protocols, drugs used, monitoring and side effects.

RESULTS

Representatives of 40 of the 60 (67%) radiology centers responded to the survey. Among them, 31 performed sedation including 17 (55%) centers where radiologists performed sedation without anesthesiologists present during the procedure. The premedication drugs were hydroxyzine (n = 8, 80%) and melatonin (n = 2, 20%), Sedation drugs used for children ages 0 to 6 years old were pentobarbital (n = 9, 60%), midazolam (n = 2, 13%), chloral hydrate (n = 2, 13%), diazepam (n = 1, 6.5%) and chlorpromazine (n = 1, 6.5%). A written sedation protocol was available in 10/17 (59%) centers. In 6/17 (35%) centers, no monitoring was used during the procedures. Blood pressure monitoring and capnography were rarely used (< 10%) and post-sedation monitoring was heterogeneous. No life-threatening adverse effect was reported, but 6 centers reported at least one incident per year.

CONCLUSION

For half of the responding radiology centers, radiologists performed sedation alone in agreement with the local anesthesiology team. Sedation procedures and monitoring were heterogenous among centers. Adjustment and harmonization of the practices according to the capacity of each center may be useful.

Longitudinal evaluation of the Ophthalmology residents in Brazil: an observational prospective study

BACKGROUND

The longitudinal evaluation of students seems to be a better way to assess their knowledge compared with that of the traditional methods of evaluation, such as modular and final tests. Currently, progress testing is the most consolidated type of longitudinal testing method. However, despite being well consolidated as an assessment tool in medical education, the use of this type of test in residency programs is scarce.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to investigate residents' knowledge growth regarding residency training and to describe the implementation of a longitudinal evaluation test in ophthalmological residency training across several medical schools in Brazil. Finally, the study aimed to check whether performance in the tests can be used as a predictor of the results of the specialist title test.

DESIGN AND SETTING

This was a prospective observational study. This study was conducted using an online platform.

METHODS

Online tests were developed following the same pattern as the Brazilian Ophthalmology Council specialist tests. All the residents performed the test simultaneously. The tests were conducted once a year at the end of the school year.

RESULTS

A progress test was conducted across 13 services with 259 residents. Our results demonstrated that resident scores improved over the years (P < 0.0001) and had a moderate correlation with the Brazilian Opthalmology Council specialist test (P = 0.0156).

CONCLUSION

The progress test can be considered a valuable tool to assess knowledge, meaning their knowledge increased over residency training. In addition, it can be used as a predictor of the result in the specialist title test.

Validation of a multimodal algorithm for diagnosing giant cell arteritis with imaging

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to identify which combination of imaging modalities should be used to obtain the best diagnostic performance for the non-invasive diagnosis of giant cell arteritis (GCA).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This IRB-approved prospective single-center study enrolled participants presenting with a suspected diagnosis of GCA from December 2014 to October 2017. Participants underwent high-resolution 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), temporal and extra-cranial arteries ultrasound and retinal angiography (RA), prior to temporal artery biopsy (TAB). Diagnostic accuracy of each imaging modality alone, then a combination of several imaging modalities, was evaluated. Several algorithms were constructed to test optimal combinations using McNemar test.

RESULTS

Forty-five participants (24 women, 21 men) with mean age of 75.4 ± 16 (SD) years (range: 59-94 years) were enrolled; of these 43/45 (96%) had ophthalmological symptoms. Diagnosis of GCA was confirmed in 25/45 (56%) patients. Sensitivity and specificity of MRI, ultrasound and RA alone were 100% (25/25; 95% CI: 86-100) and 86% (19/22; 95% CI: 65-97), 88% (22/25; 95% CI: 69-97) and 84% (16/19; 95% CI: 60-97), 94% (15/16; 95% CI: 70-100) and 74% (14/19; 95% CI: 49-91), respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive and negative predictive values ranged from 95 to 100% (95% CI: 77-100), 67 to 100% (95% CI: 38-100), 81 to 100% (95% CI: 61-100) and 91 to 100% (95% CI: 59-100) when combining several imaging tests, respectively. The diagnostic algorithm with the overall best diagnostic performance was the one starting with MRI, followed either by ultrasound or RA, yielding 100% sensitivity (22/22; 95% CI: 85-100%) 100% (15/15; 95% CI: 78-100) and 100% accuracy (37/37; 95% CI: 91-100).

CONCLUSION

The use of MRI as the first imaging examination followed by either ultrasound or RA reaches high degrees of performance for the diagnosis of GCA and is recommended in daily practice.

Radiology residency training in China: results from the first retrospective nationwide survey

Objectives

This was the first study to systematically landscape and examine China’s nationwide standardized residency training in radiology.

Methods

In this retrospective cross-sectional study, we used data from the 2019 national survey of the first two cohorts of 3679 radiology residents who completed training in 2017 and 2018 across all 31 provinces in China. A total of 1163 (32%) residents participated in the survey. Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the implementation frequency of 24 identified training tasks (categorized into six competencies) by region, demographics, and other residency information.

Results

Among the 1163 respondents, 592 (51%) were trained in the more developed eastern region. Of the 24 identified training tasks, 15 were implemented significantly differently across regions, while the frequency of the most frequently conducted tasks (e.g., CT, MR, and radiograph interpretation and reporting) was consistent. The top 10 tasks all fell into the patient care and medical knowledge competency domains, while other competencies tended to be neglected. We found region and marital status were the most influential factors of training task implementation frequencies. Respondents trained in the northeast and the west were more likely to report, for instance, radiological examination recommendation (OR = 1.91, 95%CI = 1.27–2.88), as “very frequent.” Married respondents were more likely to report first-line night shift as “very frequent” (OR = 1.71, 95%CI = 1.29–2.26).

Conclusions

Despite the fast-win achievements of developing a national radiology residency training program, there is a gap to train quality and homogeneous radiologists across regions. Future improvement should be more tailored to residents’ personal characteristics and emphasize some “soft” competencies (e.g., communication skills).

Implementation of the Clinically Oriented Reasoning Evaluation: Impact on the European Diploma in Radiology (EDiR) exam

The aim of the study is to perform an analysis of the results that have been compiled in the nine years that the examination has existed.