How To Perform Well On Radiology In Service Exam

The fourth-year resident from the Academy of Florida brash residents to start early, study oftentimes, and focus on the broad topics and major diseases that are likely to be included in the exam.

Dr. Chris Stephens from the University of Florida.

"Make a study schedule, have a plan, and stick to it," Stephens told AuntMinnie.com in an interview. "I think if residents are studying and going to work every twenty-four hour period for iii years, they'll be more set up to accept the test. It'southward a three-yr process, and the earlier you lot start, the less stressed y'all'll be when information technology actually comes up."

Choosing your weapons

Good exam preparation starts with choosing the best resources for the job, he said.

"At that place are a lot of resource to choose from, and information technology's up to the individual to find what works best," Stephens said, adding that many residents do best with "case-centered study supplemented with journal articles to study the various diseases." Utilise a broad array of resources, and give yourself a minimum of 3 months to study for the exam. Available resources include the post-obit:

• Case Review Series
• Duke Case Review
• RadCases
• American Higher of Radiology (ACR) Learning File
• RadPrimer
• Primer of Diagnostic Imaging ("purple book")
• RadioGraphics review manufactures

Another great resource for everyday questions is STATdx, Stephens said. "You can look upwards your question online quickly, and STATdx responds with a scattering of images about that illness," frequently displaying it in more 1 clinical presentation and multiple modalities, he said.

"The majority of stuff they're going to test you on comes upwardly during your training," he added; learning about a detail disease means seeing information technology in multiple modalities. "See what it looks like in ultrasound; meet what it looks like in CT and MR," he said. "If you oasis't seen information technology in a particular way, the fashion information technology's shown to y'all can be catchy."

Also, focus on common diseases that are far more likely to be on the examination rather than rare conditions, Stephens advised. When looking at a case, analyze information technology in terms of patient management and next-step thinking.

Didactic lectures, presented to nearly all residents once or twice a day, come in two basic flavors: case-based, where residents have cases, or more than formal didactic-style lecturing. Some programs may exist modifying their curricula to aid students set up for the core exam, he said.

Physics looms large

Physics is a major component of the exam, occupying equally much every bit 15% to 20% of all questions, and residents should start early on -- even in twelvemonth 1 -- to chief the many topics information technology encompasses. Residents should incorporate physics into their daily readouts at the workstation, and maybe even do a dedicated physics review before the core exam. The RSNA physics modules are an first-class learning tool for physics, he said.

Safety issues, including radiation biology and safety, fluoroscopy geometry and doses, modifications in CT protocols and how they affect dose, and artifacts and how to eliminate them, are the "almost loftier-yield, clinically applicable topics in physics," from the perspective of test prep, Stephens said. Because the complexity of the topic, some residents find a dedicated physics review course worth the fourth dimension and money.

In whatsoever instance, physics study should be continuous throughout a residency. Subsequently all, it's the unmarried largest department on the core exam, and physics questions count in multiple categories, Stephens said.

"Physics is something yous don't exercise every day when you're working, so it's something you actually need to set bated time for exterior of work," he said. "I usually set aside one day a week for physics while I was studying for the examination, because it's easy not to spend enough time on it."

More often than not, textbooks offering more-detailed ways to drill down on a topic, Stephens said in his talk. He said he found them virtually useful for doing targeted review of specific topics rather than for cover-to-comprehend reading, simply user preference should prevail.

Rubber subsection

"The safety portion of the exam is its own little niche that you may not always call back about in your daily training," Stephens said. "It's hard to know exactly what they're going to cover, merely they do have an outline on the ACR website, and I think it's useful to expect through that list of topics to run into what you're supposed to know nearly."

The ACR website is probably the best resource for safety, as it includes contrast, radiation, and MR safety -- "all those areas are covered in a fairly readable manner, particularly the manual on contrast," he said. It covers a lot of practical topics that ascend in clinical do, including what to do if a breastfeeding patient needs a contrast exam and what you need to know about contrast reactions, along with other topics that arise infrequently.

The Stephens program

"What I personally did to set was utilise three main sources for case reviews, and I supplemented those with journal articles and STATdx to see additional images and look at the spectrum of disease for the more common diseases, encounter how it looks in multiple modalities, and the treatment and management of that affliction," Stephens said.

For physics, the RSNA modules were the primary resource, while the Duke Review of MRI Principles was very helpful for specific areas of MRI physics that were difficult or circuitous, he said.

RadioGraphics review articles were excellent too, particularly with regard to artifacts. And Stephens said he did a defended physics review course about iv weeks earlier the exam, which allowed enough time before the test to get over areas where he felt he yet needed help.

A three-month dedicated review seemed to be about right to go over everything earlier the exam. Stephens said he dedicated about a week to each topic: MSK for one calendar week, neuro the next, and always a 24-hour interval a week for physics.

"As the exam gets closer, you should definitely look at the [American Board of Radiology (ABR)] practice questions," he said. "They give you roughly 170 questions; you can use them to see the depth of cognition they expect yous to take, the difficulty of the questions, and besides the format of the exam."

At the get-go of the kickoff 24-hour interval of the test, you lot go about 20 minutes just to learn how the software works. If you already know how to utilize it, yous can use the extra time on the exam itself, he said. Also recommended is the nuclear medicine quality-control review in the weeks before the exam, especially if it'southward not office of your regular workday.

"I did a hot lab walk-through with a nuclear medicine physician to make sure I was familiar with the equipment, how it'due south used, and what it looks like," Stephens said.

"Study cases, lots of cases, and focus on mutual diseases," he concluded. Fourth dimension is not an issue during the exam; you have plenty of fourth dimension to have the exam.

And building a knowledge base is more important than exercise questions. "When you're taking the exam, the questions are not trying to fox you; they're very straightforward, and you either know it or you don't," he said.

It is important to dedicate sufficient time to study, Stephens emphasized to AuntMinnie.com.

"We didn't have dedicated study fourth dimension for our residency," he said. "Nosotros still had to go on rotations and everything, and then it's different from what prior fourth-yr residents preparing for the oral board had in the past."

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How To Perform Well On Radiology In Service Exam,

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