think very outside the box

[bosky]

I know this is crazy since radiologists can make so much money, but is anyone aware of radiology medical missions?

I just got back from a trip to Africa where we did medical screening for AIDS orphans. I saw an 8 y/o that weighed 18 kg!

I love rads, but have a hard time imagining it as a specialty doing something like this? Sure these kids don't need PET scans, but is there anything like this?

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[Toadkiller Dog]

I too have thought about this a great deal. I am interested in medical missions, and also in radiology, and the two seem an odd match at best.

Here is what I have gathered:

1) Even as a radiologist, you are still a general practitioner. Many mission places are hard up for docs, and with the fact that your income is triple that of an FP/IM, and your time off also greater, you may be able to serve as a general medicine doc for short term missions and such.

2) Radiology is taking off like a skyrocket here in America. It may be a while, but hospitals in developing countries will eventually need someone to teach them how to use this stuff. These are the purposes of what are commonly called "teaching missions". Such undertakings are often undertaken by the Christian Medical Association (the "COIMEA" team does some of this, I believe).

It's not the hands-on hero aspect that a general surgeon might gain in medical missions, but its something. If you gather anymore info or would like to chat, drop me a line at [email protected]

Good luck

 

[bosky]

Thanks for the reply, I suspect most people applying to radiology have no interest in doing something like this. That's disappointing given the incredible level of pay and vacation time currently available to radiology residency graduates.

I agree with you that training may be the best approach. When we were in Africa. we referred a few patients for chest xrays and the films all came back significantly overexposed. It made interpretation difficult (albeit it was with an ER and pediatrician!). Besides training, there may also be ways to funnel good equipment to these areas?

I'm thinking maybe this is an area of radiology where people could easily create something novel?

Best wishes Toadkiller!

 

[Voxel]

Given the lower cost and portability of ultrasound, it would make a good tool to use in the ER or hospital. You have to train physicians in Africa how to use the equipment properly. In addition there are older (circa 1995 and before) CT machines which can be purchased for $100-200K on the used market and of course the cost of shipping it and setting it up overseas. You could do a fundraiser to pay for such equipment. Even though they are old and horribly slow compared to today's multi-slice scanner. They work. They provide information that almost no other non-invasive examination can (except for MRI of course). That is an area that I would be interested in. Africa is not the only place in world that needs CT scanners and ultrasound machines.