Eric Postal, MD

Will AI-powered diagnostic workups without on-site docs be a new reality in 2024?

Is there a happy medium with “recommendations” for referring clinicians?

Excess verbiage, at the behest of non-clinical interlopers, continues to pervade radiology reports.

Can a return to a per-click reimbursement model reignite one’s drive?

Is it time to reassess what constitutes a never event?

The ability to consider and comment on prior imaging in the radiology report may help reduce extraneous addenda requests.

Could adjustments to quality assurance review facilitate improved teamwork between radiologists and referring clinicians?

Is there a certain hypochondriasis that may lead some radiologists to pursue their own imaging, and would it change how aggressively they follow up incidentalomas on their own scans?

The success of compliance initiatives is often preceded by an easily understood rationale and simply stated benefits.

While some may see a job applicant with multiple past employers as a job hopper, others may see an opportunity to hire a radiologist with diverse work experience.

Is the continued rise of artificial intelligence (AI) driven by legitimate “machine learning,” or do the frequently “suspicious” chest X-rays and questionable detection of subtle findings on head CTs reveal a hype-driven train of new products with an ultimately “planned obsolescence”?

What constitutes an optimal work schedule in radiology?

While this author has no intention of retiring from radiology, he notes that retiring from certain work schedules or aspects of the field have had a favorable impact on his life.

While there may be awkwardness and a degree of embarrassment in noting obvious findings to referring clinicians in radiology, consistent communication of those findings is essential.

How strong is your own quality assurance (QA) barometer for interpreting CT, MRI, and ultrasound images?

I’ve long since learned that good faith is far more reliable than, say, contracts.

When facilities routinely forward X-rays for “pain,” vascular ultrasound studies without Doppler or chest computed tomography (CT) scans devoid of breath holding, patient care suffers.

When you are asked for an informal medical opinion, one’s intellectual curiosity and desire to help others never fade away.

Does access to prior imaging results have to be mission impossible for teleradiologists?

What do you do with a CD of imaging that has no information on the doc requesting the radiologist read?

Addressing ancillary repetitious inhibitors to radiology workflow could go a long way to mitigating burnout risk.

The notion of non-physician practitioners (NPPs) attempting to do radiologist-level work is a very slippery slope and what this author refers to as the “bargaining” stage of grief.

Superfluous pan scans have become standard for a vast majority of minor injury presentations in emergency room settings.

While it stands to reason that referring physicians would prefer a condensed summary of relevant imaging findings, vagaries with insurers, patients and other possible readers of the radiology report may warrant an inefficient minutiae-cluttered approach.

There are cases that warrant verbal communication with referring clinicians, but making that communication happen can, at times, be a challenging responsibility.

While some may equate extra work hours as honorable self-sacrifice or dedication to patients, striving for an optimal balance of life and work is an individual choice that shouldn’t be criticized.

When reviewing radiographs, computed tomography (CT) scans or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, do you still turn to mnemonics every now and then to jog your short-term memory?

Whether it’s attempting to get appropriate clinical histories from referring physicians or getting a tech to split up a multiphasic contrast study into separate image series, consistently striving to fight the good fight for optimal image interpretation is worth the effort.

Whether it’s the proverbial “bad penny” case that crashes PACS or the perception that positive computed tomography angiography (CTA) exams for pulmonary arterial clots come in sets of three, suspicions can emerge here and there in radiology.

This author emphasizes that diplomacy is always the best policy when leaving one radiology employer for another.