Podiatric Radiology Training

[Rads Consult]

I'm curious how much if any radiology training there is in Podiatry? There is little to none in med-ed and most people just learn as they go. How do you learn to read MRIs because many of the podiatrists I know are pretty good at reading their own imaging?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[SLCpod]

As part of podiatry school we have radiology classes. We are also required to have a radiology rotation during residency .

We do look at a lot of imaging for surgical planning as well.

 

[ldsrmdude]

As part of podiatry school we have radiology classes. We are also required to have a radiology rotation during residency .

We do look at a lot of imaging for surgical planning as well.

Your radiology rotation must have been more worthwhile than mine. Mine was basically show up at 8, watch the radiologist read images, leave at noon to "study on your own."

To the OP, the foundation is set in school, but I think for most of us, it's looking at lots of images and going over them with attendings and senior residents. As was mentioned, we look at lots of imaging for surgical planning and it's a big emphasis at most programs I visited to make sure residents are competent at reading our own images. Not that we don't trust the radiologists... well sort of.

 

[heybrother]

Not sure if this was unusual, but my radiology department allowed me to view all the foot and ankle films/MRIs/CTs for the past year. I then sorted for things like alerts, trauma, pediatrics by age, etc. and looked for things that were relevant to me. I spent quite a bit of time watching people read pregnancy ultrasounds and mammograms and found my self directed experience more useful.

 

[PeaJay]

OP

I attended Scholl at Rosalind Franklin and in our curriculum we spent a large amount of time learning how to methodically assess imaging studies. At the time I attended there were entire classes dedicated to the subject as well as more practical hands on "capstone" rotations to solidify the knowledge. At Scholl we had a large large library of old school films that showed an array of pathology. I spent literally days reviewing every aspect of every one of the thousands of images.

In residency, we reviewed all of the clinic imaging electronically as formal reads could take a while. Additionally we would over read the images for ER staff as non msk radiologist often often miss subtile findings of injuries (Lisfranc, syndesmosis, ect...). There is mounds of emergency med literature confirming the miss rates. In my facility the ER physicians contact the residents directly to do these reads and to provide follow-up recommendations. We also reviewed pre-op imaging for surgical planning on a daily basis. Our Radiology rotation consisted of participating in interventional radiology procedures (stents, plasty, ports, ect...), interventional msk radiology (injections, injections, and more injections), msk radiology (advanced imaging and stat trauma reads), as well as general radiology (ultrasounds and plain films).

You tend to become comfortable with reads fairly quickly.

 

[CutsWithFury]

Being able to read your own imaging studies is paramount in the real world. You can’t rely on the radiologist to get it right. Depending on the community you practice in after residency the hospital or radiology centers there might be pretty bad.

I work in a hospital and we have one MSK radiologist that is good. Whenever I get reports from the other radiologists I know I have to look at the imaging study closely as the other radiologists miss things all the time when it comes to foot and ankle. They are just not good at lower extremity imaging

 

[malleolusman]

So true. You gotta have an MSK trained rad look at your study particularly if you are on the fence about something, they are very helpful. Most of the MSK trained guys I know love talking shop about the pathology too.