Thoracic Imaging 2003 - Society of Thoracic Radiology

challenge is to develop services for radiologists that act as a
curbside consult, allowing the radiologist to make better decisions.
This is an area that is relatively unexplored. As a modest
example, consider the evaluation of an incidental adrenal mass.
The value of calculating the washout of intravenous contrast has
been shown to be useful in separating benign masses from
metastases. However, it’s my observation that the calculation
(which is simple algebra) is rarely performed. Programming the
equation into the web page allows one to quickly calculate the
washout values and by providing results in the context of published
values allows the user to judge the strength of the evidence.
The personal curbside consult is commonly used in daily
practice as a source of information. Unfortunately, with a shortage
of radiologists and the dispersion of colleagues to separate
sites makes this contact less common. Online contact with
instant messaging will not only bring colleagues back together
but also expand contact outside of our normal groups putting at
our fingertips colleagues with expertise that are currently
unavailable.
Predictions
Online education will continue to evolve. These are my predictions
as to what we will see over the next decade.
Textbooks will be written specifically for online use. The
role of print publications will not vanish but will be of much
less importance than today.
Journals will eventually be taken back by the scientific societies
and will be freely accessible online. Print journals will disappear.
The interconnections between journals and articles will
be a major source of information.
One of the major thrusts of current CME is to provide CME
at the point of care where questions arise. Only Internet technologies
are poised to provide and document that activity.
Traveling to lectures in remote locations will become less common.
Societies, like the STR will incorporate their meetings into
the major meetings of the RSNA or ARRS where personal time
with colleagues can be maximized.
Peer-to-peer technologies (like instant messaging) will produce
a new type of practice where radiologists only exist online
to serve as consultants to their colleagues all over the world.
URL’s discussed:
PubMed:
http://www.ncbi.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi
Google:
http://www.google.com
Over 480 million searches are performed daily, Google
accounts for 4 of every 5 searches.
AuntMinnie:
http://www.auntminnie.com
registration required
eMedicine:
http://www.emedicine.com
paid subscription required
chestx-ray.com
http://www.chestx-ray.com
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