Expanded Scope of Practice Fellowships for Radiologists: a Survey of Interest Amongst Current Canadian Radiology Residents

Rationale and Objectives: Radiology residents acquire a diverse educational experience and skill set, including a general internship year, which may enable the direct management of patients. In order for radiology residents to define new scopes of practice, however, additional fellowship training may in certain instances be warranted. Materials and Methods: Using the Canadian family medicine Enhanced Skills Program as a model, we conducted a Canada-wide survey of radiology residents to assess interest in additional fellowship training to expand their scope of practice. Results: Our results indicate that a majority of residents (69.2%) would like to routinely see patients in clinic and more than half (52%) are willing to undergo an additional year of fellowship to enhance their skill set. The most popular choices for such fellowships were sports medicine (22.8%), emergency medicine (19.6%) and vascular medicine (18.5%). In addition, a majority (52.9%) of residents felt capable of offering incidentaloma clinics without additional training beyond their core radiology residency. Conclusion: Traditional diagnostic and interventional radiology fellowships must be reconsidered to reflect the interests and capabilities of modern radiology trainees. Expansion of training options into the domain of direct patient management will likely prove popular among current residents.