Privademics!

Radiology residents will have various experiences during their diagnostic or interventional radiology residencies. I would like to discuss the unique opportunity of completing a radiology residency in an academic community hospital “privademics” program.

I am currently completing my diagnostic radiology residency with an early specialization in interventional radiology in the Detroit metro area of Michigan. One of the attributes that attracted me to this program during interview season as a medical student was that it didn’t have any affiliated radiology fellowship programs. No fellows immerses my cohorts and me in the breadth of both diagnostic and interventional radiology. This is one of the advantages of a privademics program.  

We “pick up” any type of case on the list without having to drop the case for a fellow to read. I cannot begin to explain how beneficial that is for real-life radiology practice/call, and of course, for the American Board of Radiology Qualifying (Core) Exam. This advantage allows early exposure to all residents, whether it be with direct side-by-side readouts with your board-certified, subspecialized, diagnostic radiology attending or being first assist in all interventional cases.

Another advantage of a privademics radiology program is learning the way of private practice. I knew early in my residency that private practice was for me. This unique situation exposes residents to the business aspects of radiology, from what is required in dictating a radiology report, to learning about contracts when job hunting. Take it as a long-term job interview, because in private practice it can be difficult to find a candidate who thrives under the traditional high-volume caseload on a routine basis.

Just to be clear, by no means does this prevent you from achieving the goal of working in academia, if desired, but privademics programs are usually run by a private practice radiology group. I know plenty of my prior graduated residents who ended up in academic radiology, working for some of the biggest names in the country!

Lastly, privademics programs tend to have a higher volume of various modalities, which allows the resident to read more cases. We all know that repetition and exposure is key to a successful radiology career, but a brand is a brand and having completed training in a large academic setting definitely prepares a radiologist to carry the same momentum throughout their career. For this reason, this is where privademics, in my opinion, shines the most.

In my experience, as well as the experiences of my cohorts and prior graduated residents, privademics residents are uniquely poised to complete their fellowships in world-renowned academic institutions and the subspecialty programs of their choice. Ultimately, they get the best of both worlds: the high-volume setting of privademics and a world-renowned academic education for fellowship, synergistically building a superior radiologist.