From 2008 to 2020, there was an increase in the percentage of US radiologists involved in resident teaching, but teaching radiologists’ total workload involving trainees has decreased, according to a study. published online Oct. 22 in the Journal of the American College of Radiology,

Judah Burns, MD, from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, and colleagues examined temporal shifts in trainee participation in radiologists’ workload nationally. All US radiologists interpreting noninvasive diagnostic imaging for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries were identified from 2008 to 2020.

The percentage of teaching radiologists’ total workload with trainee participation was determined, and the mean trainee participation in workload was calculated for teaching radiologists overall.

The researchers found that from 2008 to 2020, there was an increase in the percentage of radiologists involved in teaching (13.6 to 20.4 percent). The mean total workload increased 7 percent from 2008 to 2019 among teaching radiologists, then decreased in 2020 to 2 percent below the 2008 level.

From 2008 to 2019, the mean teaching workload decreased 19 percent, then decreased to 31 percent below the 2008 level in 2020. From 2008 to 2019 and 2020, there was a decrease in mean trainee participation in teaching radiologists’ total workload, from 35.3 to 20.3 percent. 26.3, and 24.5 percent, respectively. When stratified by gender, experience, subspecialty, geography, practice type, and practice size, teaching radiologists showed decreased mean trainee participation.

“The findings indicate that academic radiologists’ workloads are increasingly incorporating growing independent interpretation, with clinical teaching representing a diminishing component of their practices,” the authors write.

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