Thursday, January 23, 2014

Radiology Demographics Today

Often times it’s interesting to see what groups are represented in medicine. Every specialty has a little of everything in terms of representation, men, women, minorities and so on. In diagnostic imaging it’s amazing to see that there is not a huge representation such as women or men. It was stated in a recent article in auntminnie.com that “Among the 20 largest medical specialties, diagnostic radiology ranks 17th in female and 20th in minority participation, even though radiology is the ninth largest medical specialty.”

In part there is a concern over minority groups not having much parity with other groups in terms of graduation or transition. Issues such as financial status and ability to get aid can often times be a problem. When dealing with the education part it was stated that “Efforts have been made to change the numbers on a variety of fronts -- for example, trying to speed up the pipeline of minority medical student graduations -- but the data have shown that these minority groups decline in representation when transitioning from medical school to diagnostic radiology residency.” What is it about radiology in particular?

Maybe a lot of students feel that radiologists are more like consultants than specialists. The feel that radiology is not a specialty is absolutely absurd since radiology deals with creating a diagnosis and helping clinicians establish a proper treatment program which will help a patient’s prognosis, especially if the condition is a complex one. Radiology, like any other specialty takes a great deal of concentration and focus.

Often times radiologists have to deal with the possibility of having to deal with a wrong diagnosis. Radiology takes a great deal of dedication and a special person willing to go through a lot of different ups and downs. Like any other specialty it can be misunderstood in some respects. The fact is that right now a lot of people may see radiology as a way to make money and not necessarily deal with patients as much.

The future will tell if women and minorities start moving toward radiology. In the end it’s not your ethnicity, gender or religious preference that will make you a good radiologist. It’s commitment, dedication, and sacrifice for a patients well being that makes a radiologist great.

If you have any questions about diagnostic imaging procedures please feel free to give us a call. We here at Clermont Radiology look forward to answering any questions you may have.



Charla Hurst
General Operations Manager

Charla@ClermontRadiology.com  
352-241-6100 







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