How do medical students, residents and graduated physicians really perceive radiologists? A cross-national study.

Background: Radiology has always been an attractive specialty for residents, but its attractiveness has recently decreased in France regarding the median choice rank after at the National Residency Board.

Aim: To study Radiologists' perceptions and social representations (SRs) among a group of medical students, residents and graduated physicians in France, to better understand the view of Radiologists to debunk stereotypes.

Methods: The nationwide web-based survey was based on valid hierarchical evocation methods. We determined the corpus's central core and SRs' principal themes with prototypical and correspondence factor analysis (CFA), respectively.

Results: Overall, 419 answers were analyzed. Radiologists' SRs were divided into 3 classes: negative stereotypes of Radiologists, negative stereotypes of the Radiologists' daily practice and Radiologists' skills. After multivariate analysis, variables that seemed to have a positive influence on Radiologists' SRs were considering radiology as a potential choice of specialty (p < 0.001) and the existence of practical experience in Radiology (p = 0.008). Women seemed to have a more negative SR of Radiologists than men (p = 0.035).

Discussion: This was the largest qualitative study on the subject and the only one among medical students, residents and graduated physicians, allowing a global picture. SRs of Radiologists seemed to be negative, potentially caused by poor knowledge of the Radiologists' profession.

Conclusion: SRs of Radiologists among medical students and graduated physicians appears to be negative. Promoting the specialty among medical students and encouraging their immersion in a Radiology department could help to debunk many stereotypes about the daily life and missions of Radiologists.