Introduction

Residency in Diagnostic Radiology

The residency is at Wesley Medical Center, a 650 bed tertiary care and level 1 trauma center in Wichita, Kansas. The program is affiliated with the University of Kansas School of Medicine.

The radiology residency program at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita is a “hands-on” radiology residency program. Because of the relatively small size of the program there is extensive one-on-one interaction with faculty members throughout the workday. We have an excellent faculty with both fellowship training and with extensive clinical experience in all areas of diagnostic radiology; including both body and neurointerventional faculty with skills not found commonly in residency programs.  Residents have the opportunity to participate/perform virtually any invasive procedure under supervision.

Among the many strengths of the program are:

• Ultrasound - The ultrasound department averages two thousand examinations per month and is the vascular ultrasound department for the entire hospital. A large volume of arterial and venus doppler exams are performed. In addition, obstetrical ultrasound is performed in our department.
• Interventional Radiology - A large variety of interventional cases as well as diagnostic angiograms are done both in the neuro and body areas. A biplane fluoroscopic suite is used for neurointerventional procedures.  Numerous vertebroplasties, epidurals and facet injections are also performed
• Pediatric Radiology - There is considerable experience available in pediatric radiology. Wesley Medical Center has the largest neonatal intensive care unit in the state which provides care to a large volume of patients. In addition, there is a well established pediatric intensive care unit in our hospital.   Together, these combine to bring in a large variety of pathology.
• Breast radiology - There is a large volume of screening diagnostic mammograms and breast interventional procedures done between our hospital department and an outpatient facility.  Diagnostic breast MRI and MRI biopsies are also performed at our outpatient clinic.
• Armed Forces Institute of Pathology - All residents attend the AFIP during their third year of residency. The tuition is paid for by the department as well as an expense stipend for the four weeks in Washington, D.C.

Residents work within an environment of teaching throughout all the hospital departments. There are residencies in OB-Gyn, Peds, Family Practice, Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Orthopaedics at Wesley Medical Center in addition to Radiology. This contributes to the learning atmosphere in which the radiology resident works. A Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) and voice recognition (Powerscribe) dictation system are in place.

The medicine internship year has been reorganized to provide a more varied experience for radiology residents.  A rotating internship, under the supervision of the Internal Medicine Department, is designed to provide experience in multiple areas of medicine prior to starting the radiology program. This will include 2 months in radiology.

The program was reaccredited for 5 years in October 2003. This included a permanent increase in residents to three per year, and a total of 12 in the program. The increase will allow subdivision of some clinical rotations to enhance the resident's learning environment.

Overall, we believe that we provide an excellent learning environment for radiology residents.  We have an excellent track record in terms of passing written and oral boards exams.  In the last ten years, every resident taking the oral boards exam has passed outright.  Over 90 % of residents have passed the written boards exam and 96 % passed the physics boards exam.  Our graduates are well prepared to enter both a fellowship program or enter private practice directly. Approximately 50 % of our residents have pursued fellowships including vascular/interventional radiology, neuroradiology, body imaging, nuclear medicine, pediatric radiology, women’s imaging and musculoskeletal.  Although most of our graduates do eventually enter private practice, several of our graduates in the last ten years are attending radiologists at university teaching programs.