Radiology

As a whole, the radiology elective was what I was looking for as a fourth year medical student. The lectures were outstanding. I learned what I will need to know next year: recognizing emergencies on films, basic interpretation, and an understanding of how to order studies. I realized there's a lot in radiology that I don't know much about, especially extremity films. While I felt competent with chest X-rays, abdominal CTs, and brain MR's, I had trouble looking for fractures and identifying bones of the legs let alone discriminating the anatomy of the wrist or ankle. Luckily, I won't have to do too much of that in the future. But the diversity of lectures from breast mammograms to radiology of child abuse to looking at lines and tubes was really a highlight of the rotation.

Otherwise, the elective was light and I appreciated the flexibility and free time. I was able to learn things on my own, relax and recuperate, and spend time with friends who may be moving across the country for residency.

From this rotation, I've gotten a great appreciation for radiologists. What they do is hard. They have to know about every organ in the body, a host of diseases, and how to efficiently work through an enormous number of studies. They even have to understand the physics behind the technology - something I haven't thought about for half a decade. I also reaffirmed that radiology is not for me. My personality simply cannot cope with sitting in a dark room without patient interaction even though I find the art of diagnosis elegant and fascinating.