Results of the 2020 Survey of the American Alliance of Academic Chief Residents in Radiology.

Rationale And Objectives: An annual survey of chief residents in accredited North American radiology programs is conducted by the American Alliance of Academic Chief Residents in Radiology (ACR). The purpose of this study is to summarize the 2020 ACR chief resident survey.

Materials And Methods: An online survey was distributed to chief residents from 194 Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education-accredited radiology residencies. Questions were designed to gather information about residency program practices, benefits, fellowship or advanced interventional radiology (IR) training choices, and the integration of IR training. Subsets of questions focused on the perception of corporatization, non-physician providers (NPPs), and artificial intelligence (AI) in radiology and their relationship to the radiology job market.

Results: 174 individual responses from 94 programs were provided, yielding a 48 % program response rate. Extended emergency department coverage has steadily decreased over the last 5 years (2016-2020), however only 52 % of programs have independent overnight call (without attending coverage). Regarding the impact of new integrated IR residencies on training, 42 % indicated there was no appreciable impact on their DR or IR training, while 20 % indicated DR training for IR residents suffered and 19 % indicated IR training for DR residents suffered. Corporatization in radiology was perceived as the biggest potential threat to the future job market.

Conclusions: Integration of IR residency did not detrimentally affect DR or IR training in most programs. Radiology resident perception of corporatization, NPPs, and AI may help residency programs shape educational content.