RSNA Committee on International Radiology Education: 25 Years of Global Education Outreach

The global radiology classroom: increasing accessibility to radiology education

AIM

Online education provides a wonderful opportunity to democratise global access to quality education. The purpose of the study was to describe and analyse an ongoing online educational initiative of free-to-access radiology webinars.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This retrospective review describes our experience in organising an ongoing series of 750-plus free-access educational radiology webinars, including the basic details regarding their timing and frequency, process for topic and speaker selection, webinar promotion, and financial viability. We also evaluate the webinar attendance for 449 consecutive webinars held between Oct 2020 and Feb 2024, using data obtained from Zoom™. The overall feedback from 323 attendees obtained via an anonymous survey is also evaluated.

RESULTS

Cumulatively, 131,473 unique viewers attended the 449 webinars from a median of 29 countries (range: 14-41). A median of 279 unique viewers (range: 67-654) and a maximum of 215 concurrent viewers (range: 46-514) attended the webinars. The number of countries logging in demonstrated a gradual increase, with an average of 24 countries in the initial 10 webinars analysed and 32 countries in the last 10. Ninety-four percent of the respondents rated the webinars as 4/5 or 5/5. Eighty-three percent preferred an online webinar over an in-house physical talk on the same topic, with 69% feeling more comfortable asking queries in the Q and A online. Overall, 99% respondents felt that the webinars contributed to them becoming better radiologists.

CONCLUSION

Our format of regular online free-access webinars can be a sustainable model of radiology education, which cuts across local, national, and international barriers, with gratifying attendee feedback.

Designing a Collaborative Breast Radiology Training Program to Tackle Tanzania's Breast Cancer Crisis

Breast cancer incidence and mortality continue to increase in Africa. In Tanzania, breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for women, and breast cancer incidence and mortality are projected to increase by 80% by 2030. Education gaps among health care workers, delayed presentation, limited screening, and low health literacy all pose significant challenges to providing optimal breast cancer care. Considering these factors, it is imperative to train expert breast radiologists. We present a collaborative breast radiology training program in Tanzania aimed at building local capacity to address national breast cancer challenges. Although cancer control in Africa faces many challenges, developing customized training programs for breast radiology, in conjunction with national cancer programs, may represent a key strategy for addressing breast cancer.

Radiation safety in an era of diagnostic radiology growth in Africa: Lessons learned from Tanzania

PURPOSE

As radiology continues to grow in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), radiation exposure and risk to patients and staff will concurrently increase. This study aims to assess the knowledge of radiation safety among medical staff in Tanzania.

METHODS

A survey was distributed to 350 staff members at a national referral hospital in Tanzania over a 7-month period (February-August 2021). This consisted of a structured questionnaire evaluating participants' knowledge and awareness ionizing radiation and radiation safety. Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used to determine the association between independent and dependent categorical variables.

RESULTS

A total of 300 surveys were completed (86% response rate). Mean age was 31 and 53% of participants were female. The majority (89%) were clinical staff employed in direct patient care. Most reported having heard of radiation protection (85%) but only 61% reported receiving training in radiation protection. Regarding radiation knowledge, 73% correctly answered how to protect oneself from radiation and 74% knew which medical staff were at greater risk of radiation exposure. However, only 32% correctly answered which imaging tests emit more radiation and only 53% correctly answered which age group was at greatest risk of radiation effects. Non-clinical staff had a significantly lower radiation awareness than clinical staff, with 69.7% reporting having heard about radiation protection, compared to 88.3% of clinical staff (p = 0.004). Female participants were more knowledgeable of radiation risks in pregnancy (p = 0.002). More early career staff reported receiving radiation protection training (64.5%) compared to those with >5 years work experience (53.9%), though this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.09). When stratifying radiation knowledge by high (score of 80-100%), moderate (60-79.9%) and low (<60%), 20% of participants scored high, 47% moderate, and 33% low.

CONCLUSION

Most staff had low to moderate knowledge on radiation safety. Our findings highlight the importance of education on ionizing radiation as medical imaging continues to rise in Africa.

Geographic Trends in Publications and Submissions in Radiology Journals: Decade Report (2010 - 2020)

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVE

The Radiology Research Alliance (RRA) of the Association of University Radiologists (AUR) organized a task force to quantify geographic changes in submissions to and publications within radiology journals over time.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Twenty journals were selected: 7 US-based general, 4 European-based general, and 9 subspecialty radiology journals. Journals were solicited for submissions and publications based on country of origin from 2010 -2020. Regression models assessed changes over time across countries, and by continent, with an emphasis on the US and China, for each journal category.

RESULTS

There were 104,679 publications and 92,446 submissions from 149 countries. Overall, there were significant increases in numbers of publications from Asia (R² = 0.66, p <0.01), and specifically, China (R² = 0.87, p <0.01). For US journals, there were increased numbers of publications from Asia (R² = 0.72, p <0.01) and China (R² = 0.98, p <0.01), but decreased numbers from North America (R² = 0.41, p = 0.03). For European journals, there were increased numbers of publications from Asia (R² = 0.79, p <0.01), North America (R² = 0.75, p <0.01), and China (R² = 0.82, p <0.01). For subspecialty journals, there were increased numbers of publications from North America (R² = 0.38, p = 0.04) and China (R² = 0.73, p <0.01). There was an acute COVID spike in submissions during 2020, with a continuous increase most notable in China (R² = 0.96, p <0.01).

CONCLUSION

In the last decade, the numbers of submissions to and publications within general and subspecialty US and European radiology journals have generally increased around the world, with the largest growth in Asia and in particular China.