Integrated cardio-thoracic imaging curriculum for residents: Design, implementation, and analysis of test and evaluation results

Abstract

As the field of cardiac imaging has demonstrated exceptional growth over the past several decades, radiology departments and residency programs have struggled to integrate cardiac imaging instruction into training curricula.

Purpose: To create an integrated cardio-thoracic teaching and lecture curriculum and resident rotation in accordance with AGGME and Society of Thoracic Radiology (STR) guidelines.

Materials and methods: Consecutive PGY-2 to PGY-4 residents (n = 14) rotating through our Cardiothoracic Imaging (CTI) section from 1/1/2021 to 04/18/2022 were give pre- and post- rotation tests of knowledge and feedback evaluations. Attending feedback of the curriculum was obtained at 3-months and 9-months post curriculum implementation. A Wilcxon test was used to evaluate differences in improvement between pre- and post- rotation resident feedback scores, test scores for thoracic and cardiac test questions in addition to attending feedback scores at 3 and 9-months post curriculum implementation.

Results: The overall post-rotation scores in addition to thoracic only and cardiac only scores improved, with the difference between improved versus stable or decreased scores being statistically significant overall (P = 0.039) and for cardiac scores (P = 0.003), but not for thoracic scores (P = 0.22). The overall (P = 0.002), thoracic (P = 0.027), and cardiac (P = 0.026) resident feedback scores were significantly improved post-rotation. Similarly, the overall attending feedback scores significantly improved over time (P = 0.021).

Conclusion: An integrated Cardio-thoracic Imaging teaching curriculum was well received by both residents and attendings with significant improvement in post rotation feedback scores by both groups. Moreover, residents demonstrated improved scores on knowledge tests post rotation.