Program Overview

The University of Oklahoma Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program is located in Oklahoma City on the campus of the University Of Oklahoma College Of Medicine. Comprehensive education for residents, medical students, nursing students, medical support and allied health professionals is located on the 61 acre complex along with internationally recognized medical research facilities. Radiology residents have full use of the College of Medicine facilities including the Robert M. Bird Health Sciences Library and they rotate at all teaching facilities of the OU Medical center, each offering a unique clinical setting and educational experience.

The residency is four years of specialty training in diagnostic radiology with a total of twenty four (24) residents. It is fully accredited by the ACGME. The Radiology Residency Program curriculum combines traditional radiology education (the “Academic Core Curriculum”) with professional development (the “General Competencies”). During the course of four years, residents progress from fundamentals of radiology to learning advanced correlative imaging strategies. Our new curriculum includes education in professionalism and an introduction to understanding our health care system and the business of radiology.

Our goal is for our graduates to have solid radiological and medical principles on which to base their decision making as they practice radiology as a profession, to bring expertise to their future practices providing practical, cost effective consultative services to referring physicians and their patients and to be an asset to the medical and general communities in which they choose to practice.

Academic Core Curriculum

The basis for residency education is the core academic curriculum. The curriculum begins in the first year of radiology residency with rotations at each of the major teaching facilities of the College of Medicine. Adult inpatient services are provided at both Presbyterian Tower and Everett Tower with a Level I Trauma Center housed in the Emergency Department at Everett Tower. The Children’s Hospital of Oklahoma provides dedicated exposure to pediatric radiology during rotation months at this location and the Oklahoma City Veterans Administration Hospital provides multi­disciplinary care to adults with a wide spectrum of disease with heavy emphasis on cardiovascular diseases, lung disease and cancer. Teaching and supervision are provided at each hospital by excellent faculty supporting resident education and quality patient care. Rotation through the subspecialties of radiology provides the experience necessary to acquire strong interpretive skills and they meet or exceed the training recommendations of the ACGME. The curriculum includes:

The foundation of the educational experience is one­-on-­one film review sessions with faculty in the Department of Radiological Sciences. Discussion of findings, pathophysiology, diagnostic possibilities and the ‘most likely’ diagnostic consideration in light of the patient’s history and known physical findings is accomplished during these film interpretation sessions. Instruction in dictating concise, informative and relevant reports is developed and communication skills with referring physicians mature through the four levels of training. Didactic learning sessions through formal conferences each morning, focused noon conferences and evening seminars including guest lecturers, journal club and case presentations by community radiologists support the academic curriculum and provide a variety of venues for learning. Select individual rotations include participation with faculty in multidisciplinary conferences, providing an opportunity to develop presentation and consultation skills.

Focused educational experiences are provided during the first year with a five week radiology physics didactic series geared toward introduction to the physics of radiology, radiation safety and preparation for the ABR Physics examination.  During the third year each resident spends six weeks attending virtual conferences immersing themselves in radiologic pathology. All residents take the ACR annual in-service examination; those who have successfully completed the written ABR Physics and Clinical Examinations may ‘opt out’.

Subspecialty rotations are on a monthly basis with twelve each year. First year rotations emphasize fundamentals and the most frequently performed radiologic examinations, two sequential months at each of the four teaching hospitals and basic CT in preparation for in­house and emergency department responsibilities that begin in the latter part of the first year with week­end plain film call. Training during the subsequent years emphasizes progressively complicated and esoteric disease processes and advanced imaging and interventional techniques. The fourth year focuses on maturation of all interpretive skills, sophisticated decision making processes in support of cost effective, quality patient care and consultative services with referring physicians.

General Competencies

Professional development of each resident is integrated into daily activities and through inclusion of topics pertinent to the practice of radiology in the lecture schedule. The ACGME has begun development of curriculum requirements which measure each program’s success in these areas through the General Competencies. The six competencies are:

Patient Care:

Residents should be able to demonstrate that they are able to provide effective, appropriate and compassionate patient care.

Medical Knowledge:

Residents must demonstrate knowledge about established and evolving biomedical, technological and clinical sciences and the application of this knowledge to patient care.

Interpersonal and Communication Skills:

Residents must demonstrate interpersonal and communication skills that result in effective information exchange with referring physicians, patients, patient family members as appropriate, medical students, other residents, supervising faculty, referring physicians, technologists, nurses and other members of the health care team.

Professionalism:

Residents must be able to demonstrate a commitment to carrying out professional responsibilities, adherence to ethical principles, and sensitivity to a diverse patient population.

Practice Based Learning and Improvement:

Residents must be able to investigate and evaluate their patient care practices and appraise and assimilate scientific evidence in order to improve their radiologic practices on a continuing basis.

Systems Based Practice:

Residents should be able to demonstrate an awareness and responsiveness to the larger context and system of health care and the ability to effectively call on system resources to provide optimal care.

Time is committed during the conference schedule to address issues of the business of radiology, interpretation of the scientific literature for practice modification, medical ethics, the medico­legal environment and the general topics of professionalism and our health care system. Seminars are provided during the last two years of training in contract negotiation, financial planning and investment strategies and the value of professional organizations. Our goal is development of professional radiologists who are competent, board certified, able to contribute positively to the practice of radiology during productive careers and serve as role models through service to patients, referring physicians and their communities.

Research and Scholarly Activity

The University Of Oklahoma College Of Medicine requires scholarly activity on the part of both faculty and residents. These educational experiences may be via active participation in clinical discussions, conferences which promote a spirit of inquiry and scholarship, journal clubs, regional or national professional and scientific societies, research and publication in peer review journals. Residents have exposure to research opportunities throughout residency, and they may be performed concurrent with scheduled rotations, or as a dedicated elective. In addition to participation in departmental conferences and journal club, residents regularly teach basic radiology to medical students taking radiology clerkships and participate in development of the radiology teaching files.

Residents may attend one of the major national radiologic meetings at the expense of the Department as funding allows and with approval of the Program Director. With approval of the Program Director and Department Chair, residents giving presentations may attend additional meetings with expenses paid. The Department of Radiological Sciences pays dues for residents to be members of the Oklahoma State Radiological Society which allows attendance at the bi­annual meetings without fee. Each year the Oklahoma State Radiological Society selects a resident to attend the ACR Annual Leadership Meeting; any OU resident selected for this opportunity will have costs reimbursed by the OSRS and be allowed additional educational leave days to participate.