The ACR Resident and Fellow Section

RFS Executive Committee Meeting Minutes: December 1, 2004
RSNA Meeting, McCormick Place
Chicago, Ill.

Member Participants

Jesse Davila, M.D.
Sanjay K. Shetty, M.D.
Gregory Galdino, M.D.
Tara Lawrimore, M.D.
Aradhana Venkatesan, M.D.

ACR Staff

Kelly Foster
Trina Madison

Introduction
The meeting was convened at 12:00 pm CST.

2004 Elected RFS Officers

Chair: Jesse Davila, M.D. (Mayo)
Vice Chair: Sanjay Shetty, M.D. (MGH)
Secretary: Greg Galdino, M.D. (UCSF)
AMA: Tara Lawrimore, M.D. (MGH)
A3CR2: Aradhana Venkatesan, M.D. (MGH)

ACR Meeting 2005
(Kelly Foster, Dr. Davila)

Trina will be replacing Kelly as coordinator
How do we want to allocate time and resources?
We have been successful in prior meetings:
Addressing resident issues
Educating residents on ACR issues
Some leadership education
Capitol Hill visit
The EC expressed concern that we rush the meeting, particularly on Sunday and that there is not enough time for and open forum or discussion of resolutions
EC suggested reducing Dr. Gunderman's talk to focus on tips rather than educate how to become leaders
Dr. Davila suggested cutting Dr. Gunderman talk in half on Sunday morning and moving some of the meeting (including a presentation by Dr. Gunderman) to Sat afternoon and start later on Sunday; this will allow more time overall for open forum and discussion of resolutions
Resident lunch on Sat will remain unchanged. EC decided introduction presentations given by EC during the lunch were well received and we will again incorporate those talks this year
Dr. Shetty suggested breaking the talks up and moving some to Sunday
Dr. Davila will attend the resident luncheon and Dr. Shetty will attend the CSC meeting, same as last year
The EC decided that Sat presentations during luncheon will include the introduction to the ACR structure and state chapters, Sun presentations will be the A3CR2 and AMA reports as will as those on issues/and outcomes of issues the EC has addressed
Preliminary ACR Mtg schedule
We will be in a different, larger room this year as we are expecting more attendees
Sat AM course: Cardiac MRI imaging
Since EC decided to move some of RFS meeting to Sat afternoon, residents will be encouraged to attend the afternoon RFS session and skip the afternoon course. Kelly will look into whether there may be a reduced fee for residents only attending the AM portion of the course. In addition, Kelly will inquire whether we may have any ability to change the schedule so that the talks that are most useful to residents are given in the morning
Lunch
An ACR senior member (Dr. Amis or Dr. Borgstede) will give just a welcome talk and not a presentation
EC talks on ACR structure
Afternoon session 1:30-3:30
Dr. Gunderman intro talk for motivation, individual talks about RFS EC summary
Introduce resolutions important to residents to encourage residents to review (read) resolutions prior to meeting
Sat Eve reception
Short welcome address, no scheduled talks
Sunday 8:00 A-12:00P
Dr. Gunderman another talk
EC will introduce issues, resolutions
Reference committee person introduce resolutions, EC member will again function as moderator
Round table discussions
EC decided we will again have attendees break into tables divided by topics / issues
Open forum / vignettes
Dr. Lawrimore suggested that a microphone be placed on the floor so attendees may be more encouraged to speak
Sunday afternoon after Pres Address
EC decided that attendees will be requested to return to the RFS session after the Pres address
Discussion of resolutions
Monday 7:30-8:30AM
Elections
State caucuses meeting times variable on Sunday morning, Dr. Galdino recommend that one or two residents break from RFS session to attend if important to the state chapter RFS

Update on ACR Website
(Dr. Galdino)

Web Site Update from RSNA meeting of Communication Commission
New website released by ACR received well as significant improvement
The RFS section is unchanged and it is very difficult to find information within the site. The navigation has to be improved
Dr. Galdino recommended to the committee that the RFS site be designed such that it functions as a site within a site along with its own left hand navigation that pertains to the RFS site instead of the ACR site. Dr. Galdino has assembled "primary buckets" or categories for the left hand navigation and will send it to the EC. After any comments/addition, he will send it to Nancy Cook
The committee asked for suggests on educational content that will encourage residents to use the site. Potential Content includes:
MRI project. Dr. Galdino commented to the committee that the MRI project which the EC helping to organize should be the primary focus for educational content. It should be applicable to residents, fellows, and members
Dr. Shetty suggested possibly a cross sectional anatomy site, since a comprehensive anatomy site does not yet exist. The site would have to be done right, but it would likely remain a large undertaking. It was unclear whether this is a doable project versus looking for links to existing content
If the project were to move forward, the EC could employ the number of residents/fellows in the RFS to divide the workload and submit images of normal anatomy
Funding for the project could be obtained from manufacturers such as GE
Dr. Neiman asked Dr. Galdino to evaluate Harrison's online located on the ACR site and report to him the usefulness of service
Dr. Venkatesan reported that some items from the old RFS site are absent from the new site, in particular the answers to the in-service exam are not found on the new site

Commission on Communications
(Dr. Galdino)

E bulletin is returning to print
Published 6 times a year
Will have PDF component online
RFS section will be included in the new Bulletin; potential topics:
Meeting summaries
ACR
A3CR2
AMA
CSC
Intersociety Conf
EC remarks, committee description, summary of accomplishments (Dr. Davila)
Dr. Lawrimore will write a summary of the Reception RSNA for the first issue
Dr. Shetty agreed to submit a summary on the Moorefield internship

Other issues discussed by the communications committee:

E news
Concern about overburdening members with email
Concern about degree of urgency of news
The committee would like to abandon Enews altogether
The committee would also like to change special Enews to Special Alert that only goes out when members need to be notified of information urgently
Issue of appropriate utilization
ACR Considering hiring PR firm
No definite cohesive plan at this point
Addresses to this issue are rapidly ongoing by payers, etc, need for urgency by ACR
United health care initiative
Highmark initiative
SIR and ASTRO opposed to ACR position at present
JACR
Lack of advertising from major vendors
27,000 subscribers (5-6K residents covered by sponsors, remainder by ACR)
Medline listing pending, should increase academic institution subscription
Move to be more aggressive with readership outside of ACR, i.e. corporate readers
Plan to send to all attendees at RSNA

MRI Project
(Dr. Davila)

Body MRI imaging project pilot is in the works, Dr. Davila is working with Dr. Christoph Wald and the education committee on the project which is back on the table
There is a meeting (conference call) to be scheduled for planning technical specs for MRI teaching tool, last call could not garner enough participants. Details to follow
The format of the project will be a teaching file with a case based format with minimal didactic to accommodate each case
Similar to ACR disk format but with updated cases (disks produced 6 years ago)

Fellowship Survey
(Dr. Shetty)

The survey is completed and the results are compiled
Dr. Shetty met with Dr. Resnick (Univ Maryland and fellowship task force chairman) and discussed the findings of the survey
Dr. Yousef (Johns Hopkins) conducted a recent survey in Neuroradiology of the fellow participants regarding their match. The results are to be published in JACR
Dr. Resnick reported that the fellowship structure likely will not change this year. He is discussing with SCARD the negative aspects of the match to encourage more uniform participation
Results of the EC study will be submitted in the JACR
Dr. Resnick told Dr. Shetty that he intended to conduct a survey similar to recent EC survey to present at AUR, and asked Dr. Shetty if he could use the survey that the EC complied. The RFS EC will retain control of data
One of the biggest complaints from survey participants was that programs need to declare spots before the applications are due, however Dr. Resnick stated that there will likely not be a change for this year
Internal positions affecting the match are also one of the biggest complaints

Turf Survey
(Dr. Venkatesan)

Turf survey ready to be conducted
30 question survey (reduced by 50% from initial)
It will include questions on Cardiac, IR, US turf battles
The survey will be sent to a pilot group of 10-15 people following the RSNA meeting
The EC decided to send the survey to those who responded to the Fellowship survey

Resident Reception

Overall, the EC decided the reception was a success. The resident turnout (~ 160) was less than the RSNA reception (reported to be ~ 300), and may have been due to the later time slot
EC Suggestions for next year:
Advertise at RSNA reception, if allowed
Majority of attendance at case based review is resident attendance, possibly make announcement there if allowed by RSNA
Timing, earlier, possibly 5P-6:30 P
Microphone position should be centrally located
Magnetic card data (swipe) collection, as at RSNA reception
Announcement to Introduction to Research attendees
Hand out information about ACR, RFS brochure
AV projections, visual message of RFS involvement
Some of the senior ACR members questioned Dr. Davila about a large international presence at the reception

AFIP video
(Dr. Davila)

AFIP Video going well, may be outdated in 6 months

Membership Committee / Enews
(Dr. Galdino)

Next conference call to be scheduled late Dec or Early Jan.
Next RFS Enews should go out in Feb

Next Meeting
Conference call, time, date to be decided, likely sometime in Feb
Resident rep subcommittee conference call Dec 12th
Adjournment
(There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 1:30 PM CST.)