The professional and organizational future of imaging

Excerpt

The field of biomedical imaging and particularly the specialty of radiology have expanded dramatically over the last decade. The current role of the radiologist is being challenged as use of images by clinicians is becoming increasingly important. Some of the main challenges radiology faces are due to the increasing workload and subsequent shortage of radiologists, the increasing availability of technologies allowing partial outsourcing of imaging services (teleradiology), the ease of the use of images and therefore an increased ability of knowledgeable clinicians to read them. Moreover, control of patients is central to turf wars, and here radiologists are at a disadvantage in comparison with other clinical specialists. Thus according to William R. Hendee “radiology is vulnerable to the erosion of its domain of expertise because of its dependence on referrals from other physicians” [1]. …