Future Supply of and Demand for Diagnostic Radiologists in Korea

PURPOSE: To project the supply and demand of diagnostic radiologists in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: With the year 2010 in mind, the 'in-and-out moves' method was applied in order to estimate the supply of diagnostic radiologists. We also used the health need approach and the physician population ratio method for the projection of demand. As sources of information, administrative and demographic statistics were analyzed. RESULTS: If the current situation in terms of the supply of newly qualified diagnostic radiologists is maintained, the projected number will be in short supply by as many as 790 in 2000 and by 370 in 2005. There will, however, be an oversupply of about 110 in 2010. CONCLUSION: To accomplish a balanced state of supply and demand in 2010, the numbers of newly qualifying diagnostic radiologists should be maintained at the current level.

Impact of clinical history on film interpretation

We performed a study to determine whether clinical history gives a positive or negative influence on X-ray film interpretation. One hundred and nine patient's radiograms, consisting of 55 normal and 54 abnormal cases (136 abnormalities), were interpreted twice by three pairs of residents in radiology and a pair of qualified radiologists, without clinical history first and with clinical history next. The interpreters recorded diagnosis and confidence level of normal or abnormal findings on a six-point scale. Analysis of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves showed that knowledge of clinical history improved diagnostic accuracy. Residents, especially beginners, should be advised to obtain clinical history whenever they read radiograms.