Resident teaching conferences occur Monday-Thursday, between 7:30 - 9:00 am. Many of the sections provide their sessions in 1-2 week blocks to provide residents the opportunity to focus on one area for a period of time. Overall, these sessions are evenly divided between "hot seat" case reviews and didactic lectures. Some of the lectures utilize audience response technology. Residents are expected to attend these morning conferences, with coverage for clinical services provided by staff and fellows during these times.
On Fridays, sessions cover practice management, leadership, and non-interpretative skills, many of which are covered on the core examination and others of which are important to future success in practice.
In addition, the radiology residency begins with a one-month “Bootcamp” course for first-year residents to learn the essentials of radiology as we recognize that residents who enter our program come to us with varied experiences in medical school. From day one of clinical service, residents learn how to approach cases and how to communicate the important radiologic findings.
Radiologic physics is fully integrated into the morning conferences with dedicated sessions given by both physicists and practicing radiologists. In addition, the Department continues to support residents to attend a local physics board review course during the third year of training.
Weekly multidisciplinary and specialty conferences are conducted in the Radiology Department in conjunction with these services:
- Cardiology
- Gastroenterology
- Urology
- Neurology
- Surgical oncology
- Orthopaedic surgery
- Cardiothoracic surgery
- Pulmonology
Active participation in many of these conferences serves as an optimal way for residents to understand how imaging findings are integrated into patient management. This experience translates into stronger clinical radiologists. Also, daily didactic sessions and weekly journal clubs are held in the Division of Nuclear Medicine.
BIDMC has a regular Grand Rounds series that covers a wide variety of topics related to radiologic imaging. Approximately once a month, there is an invited visiting professor to the department who gives a formal grand rounds lecture. In addition, some of our clinical faculty and faculty from other departments provide lectures. Finally, once a month, more senior residents present interesting cases from the Department, which offers a great opportunity to develop teaching and presentation skills as we all participate in peer coaching during these sessions.
Boston is an outstanding city to train in Radiology; many local, regional, and national conferences are held locally. For example, the New England Roentgen Ray Society holds bi-monthly resident conferences on Friday afternoons in which selected faculty from regional institutions, including BIDMC, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brown University, Dartmouth, Maine Medical Center, and Tufts/New England Medical Center, give outstanding lectures. BIDMC attendings cover the clinical services during these times so that residents may attend these meetings.