sorta philosophicale

[medstudent2005]

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howdie

just wondering: how much do you guys think radiology contributes to the whole field of medicine vs something like IM or surgery? do you feel that a radiologist has as much importance in a patient's well being as a med doc or surgeon, who can usually read their own films?

thanks

 

[russellb]

howdie

just wondering: how much do you guys think radiology contributes to the whole field of medicine vs something like IM or surgery? do you feel that a radiologist has as much importance in a patient's well being as a med doc or surgeon, who can usually read their own films?

thanks

Surgery, in particular, and IM have their hands tied nowadays without input from the Radiology department. And if you think that they can read their films ACCURATELY, then you're a bit naive. They are almost always biased by the clinical history (if they've obtained one). I can't tell you how often I go over films with a clinician and they point out non-existent findings which would serve to support their clinical impression.

 

[medstudent2005]

oh really? that's pretty interesting...I have seen residents make mistakes, but usually the attendings have a good handle on things. But I do sometimes hear the "oh, is the official report up yet?" comment, which means they have no real clue what's going on 🙂 but those occur in complicated cases...otherwise,they seem to handle it...yes, i may have a naive pt of view as i've only seen it from the non radiology pt of view...hopefully i will soon get the radiology pt of view as well.

 

[russellb]

oh really? that's pretty interesting...I have seen residents make mistakes, but usually the attendings have a good handle on things. But I do sometimes hear the "oh, is the official report up yet?" comment, which means they have no real clue what's going on 🙂 but those occur in complicated cases...otherwise,they seem to handle it...

Based on my 7 years of experience , I would say that most clinicians can handle basic plain films, but have trouble with even mildly difficult cases. When it comes to cross-sectional (CT/MR/US), their abilities vary. Neurologists are pretty good with CT/MR head, perhaps equal to some general Radiologists. However, they're no match for most Neuroradiologists. General surgeons are often OK with easy CTs, but they are only able to identify major findings and don't usually know how to look for the subtleties which help us arrive at the correct differential diagnosis. IM, in my experience, are hopeless with CT or MR with the exception of the occasional Respirologist who can interpret basic CT Chests. Almost no one other than the Radiologist has a clue how to interpret Ultrasound (exceptions: Cardiology (echo) and some OBS/GYN).