The Department of Radiology at UW offers a unique opportunity for residents to spend two months in a dedicated rotation whose structure incorporates main elements of the ACGME core competencies: patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism and systems-based practice.    

Clinical Duties:  During this rotation residents work one-half day each day on clinical service as a ‘float,’ i.e., clinical assignments vary on a day-to-day basis depending on the needs of the department.   

Clinical Service duties incorporate patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism and systems-based practice competencies on a daily basis.

QA/QI Project:  Residents design and implement a QA/QI project using Harborview Medical Center databases such as RIS, PACS, and FOLIO.  The project itself allows exploration of the structure of the QA/QI processes at HMC and HMC Radiology, stressing review of protocols and data to effect improvement in the quality of patient care and use of resources.  Residents become familiar with principles of research methodology, study design, epidemiology, biostatistics, ethics, patient and institutional confidentiality and privacy. 

      Resident QA projects are not research for the purposes of dissemination to the public or an audience outside of HMC or the Department of Radiology.  Its function is to familiarize residents with the basics of study design in a form of a quality assurance/integrity investigation whose outcome evaluates some aspect of radiology and its integration with other specialties at the trauma center.  It is expected that the project will be presented at the end of the rotation during HMC conference, and to their peers at resident conference.  Prior to presentation at a national meeting and/or publication, a ‘minimal-risk’ Institutional Review Board (IRB) application must be submitted and approved for the specific project.  If the project functions as a pilot study that ultimately develops into full research, residents may function as principle and co-investigators under the supervision of faculty.  Numerous QA/QI projects have gone this route being published in the radiology literature with residents as primary or co-authors, as well as presenters at national conferences. 

 The QA/QI project incorporates medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism and systems-based practice competencies

Activities:  Residents attend noon conference each day HMC.  Thursday afternoons are reserved for resident conferences conducted at the UW.  Didactic sessions include the business practice of radiology; medical-legal issues in radiology; appropriateness criteria and decision-making in medical imaging, professionalism, and career development. Residents have the opportunity to attend conferences held at HMC to review continuous service improvement (CSIC). 

Residents watch 9 hours of American College Radiology tapes: 

      Job Search and Contracting Issues in Radiology

      Business Aspects of Radiology

      ACR Standards, Accreditation Programs, Appropriateness Criteria

      Critical Thinking

      Ethics

      Medical-Legal

      Service Orientation and Interpersonal Skills

      Medical Organization Politics

      Radiology clinical Research

      Radiation Biology 

Additional activies incorporate and specifically address practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, professionalism and systems-based practice competencies.