ABSTRACT
In brief TED talk-style presentations on topics ranging from climate change, artificial intelligence (AI) and telemedicine, to the COVID-19 pandemic and emergence of corporate medicine, the radiologists shared their predictions of how these developments could change medical imaging technology and practice during the next five years. Given the expansion of telemedicine, the growth of radiologic consultation, and the emergence of new and improved diagnostic modalities-such as hybrid PET-MRI, photon-counting CT, new nuclear medicine radiotracers, and theranostics-as well as minimally invasive imaging-guided procedures and implementation of AI, Dr Morrison predicted the role of radiologists eventually will go beyond simply supplying and interpreting the images. The Carol D and Henry P Pendergrass Professor, chair of the radiology and radiological science department, and a professor of biomedical engineering at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee, addressed the imminent dangers of climate change and radiology's role in both contributing to and helping alleviate those dangers. [...]what was once meant to protect physicians will become a major threat to radiologists over the next several years, says Mark E Schweitzer, MD, vice president of health affairs at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.
ABSTRACT
Both the ACR, through its workforce survey, and the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), through its Workforce Task Force, are performing "deep dives into data analysis to evaluate the staffing and hiring landscape;final results are not yet available. Statistics for average budgeted FTEs for five other modalities for 2021 vs 2003 are: * Computed tomography, 6.2, up from 3.4;* Magnetic resonance imaging, 4.7, up from 1.7;* Mammography, 4.9, up from 2.1;* Nuclear medicine, 3.6, up from 1.8;and, * Sonography, 5.0, up from 2.6 The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that radiologic and MRI technologist employment will grow 9% by 2030, about as fast as the average for all occupations, estimating 20,800 openings for these positions each year, on average.2 The BLS statistics point to a trend that more technologists will be needed to meet growing demand for imaging services. In radiation oncology, a lack of programs is contributing to shortages of physicists and dosimetrists and, to a lesser extent, radiation therapists, says Bruce G Haffty, MD, FACR, FASTRO, FASCO, chair of ASTRO's workforce subcommittee, associate vice chancellor of Cancer Programs at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, and professor and chair of the department of radiation oncology at Robert Wood Johnson and NJ Medical School, Rutgers Cancer Institute of NJ. "People have taken a step back to ask themselves, 'Is this really what I want to continue to do?'" She says the trend may impact her institution's ability to bring new talent into the profession and may even reduce the number of applicants to radiologic technology programs, "because people don't want to work in a hospital anymore."