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Competency-Based Goals and Outcome Objectives:

The Loyola University Chicago-Stritch School of Medicine offers a one-month Neuroradiology elective in the Department of Radiology. At the completion of this elective, medical students will be expected to demonstrate competence in five areas. The
primary goal stresses the use and integration of imaging studies in the diagnosis and management of patients. This includes basic knowledge of imaging studies available today, the assessment of the risks and benefits associated with these studies and their use in patients who present with commonly encountered problems that include imaging in their evaluation.

Most students view a radiology clerkship as an opportunity to improve their ability to interpret imaging studies. This goal is laudable but has limited possibilities considering the short length of the clerkship and the wide variety of imaging studies used today. Rather our primary goals are for the student to obtain knowledge of each imaging method by direct observation. Students who are considering a residency in diagnostic radiology are given a timely opportunity to observe the professional life of radiologists.

The student will be assessed and graded on the basis of examination, evaluation by attending radiologists based on interactions during the clerkship, and a formal presentation in the PowerPoint format given at the end of the clerkship.

The student will be expected to demonstrate competency in the following areas after completing the elective:

Goal 1: Medical Knowledge

1. Describe the basic principles of the common imaging methods and the way that they demonstrate anatomy. These imaging methods include:
a. Radiographs 
b. Computed tomography (CT) axial and other anatomic planes including 3D reconstructions)
c. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) (basic principles of physics, including T1, T2, gradient echo, diffusion weighted imaging, as well as principles of MR Angiography and MR Spectroscopy).
d. Digital Vascular Imaging: Cerebrovascular anatomy and interventional neuroradiology (indications, standard anatomic depictions)
2. Recognize and identify basic gross anatomy on radiographs, and cross-sectional imaging studies (CT, MRI) including 3D reconstructions, and vascular imaging studies including conventional angiography and 3D CT-angiography (CTA) and MR angiography (MRA):
a. cerebrum
b. spinal cord
c. spinal column
d. head and neck
e. cerebrovascular system

Goal 2: Communication Skills:

1. Assist with and participate to the process of informing patients and their families of the risks and benefits of common imaging procedures.
2. Describe the importance of timely dialog between radiologists and other physicians prior to examinations in order to provide clinical information that will lead to optimal imaging studies.
3. Describe the importance of a dialog between radiologists and other physicians after the completion of examinations in order to use the evaluations of these studies for timely management of patients.

Goal 3: Patient Evaluation by Imaging Studies

1. Describe the most commonly used radiologic imaging studies.
2. Integrate data from the history, physical examination, and laboratory to identify the appropriate types of imaging studies for patients with common clinical presentations.

Goal 4: Practice-Based and Lifelong Learning

1. Use information technology to access information about disease entities and their manifestations on imaging studies. 
2. Search, evaluate, and critically review scientific information in the medical literature about diagnostic radiology.
3. Recognize the areas of knowledge and practice in which they are uncertain and develop learning goals and plans for self-improvement.

Goal 5: Social and Community Context of Healthcare

At the end of Neuroradiology elective, students will be able to:

1. Describe the impact of economic and health insurance issues on patient care and the ability to provide diagnostic radiology services.
2. Discuss the appropriate incorporation of cost factors in evaluating and treating patients, including endovascular/interventional therapy vs conventional therapy.

Assessment:

1. Medical Knowledge – An examination that will include the most common imaging findings that students are expected to recognize in their clinical clerkships. 
2. Communication Skills – Assessed by direct communication with the radiology faculty. 
3. Patient Evaluation by Imaging Studies – Questions related to the most common clinical presentations of patients. 
4. Practice-based and Lifelong-learning – Each student will make a PowerPoint format computer presentation on a specific disease and the imaging of that disease. This will require critical review of the medical literature and integration of clinical, imaging, and pathology data.