Atlanta, Georgia- A local radiologist, Dr. Crystal Clear is opening up a new world for radiology. Dr. Clear, a radiologist with over 15 years of experience teaching residents is getting them to classify everyday objects… but in radiology terms.
“I think it is important not just for my current residents but for all radiology residents to start naming objects as a we would for medical issues to improve our vocabulary and to make things more ambiguous. I think that is the key to starting meaningful conversations not just with our colleagues but with people outside of medicine!”
We spoke further with Dr. Clear about her methods and the feedback she has gotten. “Oh, the new method is just great! Let me give you an example that I start off with all my residents. I give them a deck of cards and pull out the queen of spades. See, you would call this a spade right? Well, as a radiologist, I would call it a polygon that resembles a rhomboid structure with a stalk; highly suspicious for a spade however cannot rule out a club but clinical correlation is recommended.”
Dr. Amy Biguous, another radiologist had this to say. “I think Dr. Clear is really on to something; the more descriptive a radiologist is about something so blatant, the more it really makes them shine as a radiologist! I tell my residents… always use 10 words when 2 would do. Being ambiguous lets the clinician expand their differentials based on what we see and lets them correlate clinically better!”
We hope that more radiologists take this approach to help clinicians correlate clinically more effectively.
