June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness and understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and other brain disorders.
Radiology is at the forefront of diagnosing neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Advanced imaging techniques allow us to detect early signs of brain disorders, track disease progression, and evaluate the effectiveness of treatments.
This critical work can dramatically improve patient outcomes and enhance the quality of life for those affected by these conditions. That’s why, we at Medality, formerly MRI Online, are committed to transforming the way radiologists learn and thrive by creating courses that will give practicing radiologists and trainees the knowledge and skills needed to diagnose and manage these complex neurodegenerative diseases effectively.
[Cincinnati, OH, May 28, 2024] – Today, Medality, formerly MRI Online, announced that it has partnered with Toronto Radiology to help make continuing radiology education more productive for its academic faculty radiologists. The Toronto Radiology academic practice will integrate the Medality case-based learning platform into their workflow, which will enable radiologists to provide coverage for their colleagues across various subspecialties in their busy radiology practice.
The partnership with Medality demonstrates Toronto Radiology’s commitment to providing comprehensive educational resources for its radiologists. Medality will work closely with their radiology team to provide a personalized and self-directed training program, which includes interactive online microlearning courses, and advanced case-based simulation tools.
“Toronto Radiology is proud to offer outstanding educational opportunities and continuing medical education in various radiology subspecialties to our faculty radiologists. With this platform and curriculum, our radiologists will have the opportunity to meet their continuing medical education needs, keep up their skills, and enhance clinical coverage across our radiology subspecialties when needed. They will get to keep learning from other academic radiologists around the world,” said Dr. Anish Kirpalani, Chief of the Department of Medical Imaging.
As a recognized leader itself in radiology education and research, Toronto Radiology knows that it is important to optimize the learning experience for its faculty.
“We are thrilled to partner with the Toronto Radiology team to provide cutting-edge training solutions for their faculty radiologists,” shared Daniel Arnold, CEO and Co-Founder of Medality. “With this collaboration, we look forward to showing that the Medality platform plays an important role even among the best subspecialty academic radiology practices in the world.”
Medality’s case-based education is accredited under MRI Online by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and totals more than 700 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ across its platform. Learners can also earn credits for MQSA, SCCT, NASCI, state licensure requirements and more. Courses are developed in partnership with hundreds of top academic faculty radiologists, such as Dr. David Yousem, Dr. Stephen Pomeranz, Dr. Petra Lewis, Dr. Don Resnick, Dr. Rachel Brem, Dr. Suresh Mukherji, Dr. Stefan Zimmerman, and Dr. Lacey McIntosh.
About Toronto Radiology
Toronto Radiology is the academic subspecialty radiology practice at Unity Health Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital, and the University of Toronto, seamlessly integrating clinical excellence, academic rigor, and leadership in radiology AI. With over 60 years of service at St. Michael’s Hospital, their expert radiologists are leaders in radiology education and research, and have mentored and trained thousands of radiology residents and fellows. Learn more at www.radiology.to.
About Medality
Medality is the leading practice development platform for radiologists and medical imaging organizations. Medality helps tens of thousands of radiologists from over 100 countries upskill in high-growth, advanced imaging areas with case-based microlearning video courses and integrated cases designed to simulate clinical practice from anywhere, anytime. Imaging organizations use Medality to improve diagnostic and reporting quality, reduce turnaround times, and expand their breadth of practice quickly in the areas they need it most. Learn more at www.medality.com.
Studying for the radiology boards? Join the Medality team and our world-class radiologists for some fast-paced case reviews covering high-yield topics from the ABR Core Exam blueprint. From February through May, you’ll learn from top faculty from around the country in 10 live one-hour case reviews, covering high-yield topics from the ABR Core Exam blueprint. And don’t worry if you can’t make it live – all you have to do is register and you’ll receive access to the full replay library though the end of 2024.
To celebrate our new Case Crunch Core Review series, we decided to launch a giveaway to help fuel your studying and your learning! Follow the instructions below to be entered to win a DoorDash Gift Card and a Premium membership to MRIOnline.com.
Enter to win:
Contest is open worldwide and ends on Sunday, May 12, 2024 at 11:59 ET. Winners will be chosen at random and contacted via social media/email by Friday, May 17, 2024.
No purchase is necessary to enter. This giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with DoorDash, Instagram, Facebook, or Meta. Winners will be contacted via private message/email and announced publicly. Winners will have 48 hours to claim their prize.
American Heart Month is a time to raise awareness about the importance of heart health and the ways to prevent and treat heart disease. February was traditionally designated as Heart Month in 1963 by President B. Johnson, with Valentine’s Day serving as a reminder of the importance of loving and taking care of our hearts.1
Cardiac health is a major concern, as heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. While there are many factors that contribute to heart disease, such as genetics and lifestyle choices, early detection and treatment can greatly reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.2
Radiology plays a crucial role in the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease. Imaging tests like echocardiograms, CT scans, and MRIs can provide detailed pictures of the heart and its blood vessels, allowing doctors to identify and diagnose problems early on.3 These imaging tests can also be used to monitor the progress of treatment and track any changes in the heart over time.
One of the most important imaging tests used in cardiac health is the coronary angiogram.4 This test uses X-rays and a contrast dye to create detailed images of the coronary arteries and detect any blockages. This test can help doctors identify the location and extent of blockages and decide on the best course of treatment, whether it be medication, angioplasty, or surgery.
In addition to diagnostic imaging, radiology also plays a role in the treatment of heart disease. Interventional radiology procedures, such as angioplasty and stenting, can help open blocked coronary arteries and improve blood flow to the heart. These procedures are less invasive than traditional surgery and have a faster recovery time.5
Heart month is a time to raise awareness about heart health, the importance of early detection and treatment, and the role of radiology in maintaining a healthy heart. Radiologists can get involved by educating patients and healthcare providers about the importance of imaging in detecting and managing cardiac conditions, promoting the early detection and prevention of heart disease, and participating in community events and screenings.
Additionally, radiologists can get involved in Heart Month by continuing to further their own education and staying up-to-date on the latest imaging techniques and advancements in cardiac care. Here are 3 ways that radiologists can boost their knowledge in cardiac imaging:
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Medality is committed to advancing & supporting women in radiology as part of our mission to transform the way radiologists learn and thrive.
In celebration of National Women’s Physicians Day, check out all the amazing content below from some of the top women in radiology!
View all courses https://mrionline.com/library/
February is designated as American Heart Month, a time to raise awareness about cardiovascular health, heart disease, and its impact on individuals and families.1
The annual celebration started in 1963 when President Lyndon B. Johnson established February as American Heart Month to encourage Americans to join the battle against heart disease.2 Each year, a presidential proclamation is published that pays tribute to researchers, physicians, public health professionals, and volunteers for their work in preventing, treating, and studying heart disease, which is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States.3
During Heart Month, organizations and individuals come together to educate the public about heart disease, its risk factors, and ways to prevent it. This includes promoting healthy lifestyle choices such as eating a balanced diet, getting regular exercise, managing stress, and, in some cases, medicine.
One of the most important ways to prevent heart disease is through regular screenings and check-ups. This includes checking blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and other markers that can indicate a person’s risk for heart disease.4 People who are at high risk for heart disease, such as those with a family history of the condition, should be especially vigilant about getting regular screenings.
Another important aspect of Heart Month is raising awareness about the warning signs of a heart attack. These include chest pain or discomfort, shortness of breath, and pain or discomfort in the arms, back, neck, jaw, or stomach.5 Knowing the warning signs and seeking medical attention quickly can save lives.
American Heart Month is also a time when the medical community shines a light on hypertension (high blood pressure), which is a leading risk factor for heart disease and stroke. High blood pressure is a common condition where the force of blood against the walls of the arteries is too high, which can put a significant amount of strain on the heart and cause damage to the blood vessels.6 This can increase the risk of serious health problems over time and may require the care of a radiologist.
Radiologists play a crucial role in the diagnosis and management of hypertension, as they use imaging techniques such as CT scans and MRI to assess the health of the blood vessels and identify any damage caused by high blood pressure.7 They also work closely with other healthcare professionals to develop treatment plans and monitor the progression of the disease, helping to reduce the risk of serious complications such as heart attacks and strokes.
Overall, American Heart Month is a time to raise awareness about heart disease and its impact on individuals and families. It’s a time to educate the public about the disease, its risk factors, and ways to prevent it. Also, it’s an opportunity to raise awareness about the warning signs of a heart attack and to support those who have been affected by heart disease. Radiologists can also get involved by staying on top of their cardiac education. Changes in the standard of care for cardiac imaging mean there’s an increasing need for radiologists to be able to read cardiac CT and MRI.
By working together, we can help to reduce the number of people affected by heart disease and improve the lives of those who have been touched by it.
Are you ready to learn from the top Cardiac Radiologists in the world? Begin by watching this free Cardiac case review with Dr. Stefan Zimmerman.
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Get ready to dive into the exciting world of radiology with our Ultimate Guide to Radiology Conferences, Events and Healthcare Awareness Dates!
Whether you are a practicing radiologist, an educator, an administrator, or a fellow / resident / student, this guide is your go-to that can help you plan out your calendar for the year or help you create professional development activities to engage or recognize your team. Picture it as your all-access pass to the coolest events, radiology conferences (in-person and virtual), and healthcare awareness dates that are important in the medical imaging community.
If you need help planning activities for any awareness days or would like access to a specific course or fellowship, contact us!
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November
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December
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*The Medality team is exhibiting at these shows.
If there are any conferences, events or special radiology appreciation days we missed or you would like to add, please contact our editors.
During this fireside chat, CEO & Co-Founder Daniel Arnold and Dr. Catherine Jones, Cardiothoracic Radiologist Lead, Professor of Clinical Imaging Science at the University of Sydney and the lead AI researcher at I-MED Radiology, discuss:
Transcript
Daniel Arnold
Thank you for joining us here for our fireside chat. My name is Daniel Arnold. I’m the CEO and Co-founder of Medality, formerly known as MRI Online and I’m joined here by my good friend and partner, Dr. Catherine Jones, who is a Cardiothoracic Radiologist and the lead AI researcher at I-MED Radiology. Start us off, tell me a little bit about I-MED.
Dr. Catherine Jones
So for everybody who’s not from Australia, I-MED is a really large private practice. We have over 300 clinics and we cover public hospitals, private hospitals, teleradiology and a large number of community clinics. We have over 450 radiologists and I guess the thing that makes us interesting is that we don’t have a large number of radiologists who are coming through, who are subspecialty trained.
I know that here in the U.S. there’s a lot of subspecialists, a lot of people do fellowships after they do residency where that’s not so much the common pathway back in Australia. So we very much have a general radiology perspective and probably between 30 and 50% of radiologists have a subspecialty interest. So I first first met Daniel and the team at Medality probably about four or five years ago now, and we started to work together to see how we could improve the radiologists learning experience for the use case in Australia.
Daniel Arnold
Thank you so much. So the topic for today is how to grow your practice when it is impossible to recruit and retain. Every group in the world is having a radiologists shortage and we think education can play a real role. Oftentimes, there’s a challenge where 98% of people are specialized, they come in, they maybe just finished an MSK Fellowship and they want to practice 100% MSK and their practice actually needs them to be able to read beyond just MSK. Maybe they need them to read spines or some advanced body or provide call coverage.
So we provide tailored pathways for them to do on the job training. What we’ve developed with I-MED is called the Junior Consultant Program. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
Dr. Catherine Jones
Thanks, Daniel. So this is something we came up with in conjunction with Daniel and the team at Medality about five years ago. We realized very early on that there was a competition in private and public practice in Australia for the residents as they finish training.
There’s a finite number of residents that come through and of course we all want to, bring them over and have them join our groups. One of the things as a resident, no matter how well you’ve been trained or whether you’ve done a fellowship or not, there’s always a level of concern and anxiety taking the next step into becoming a staff radiologist, or as we would call it, becoming a consultant radiologist.
In order to ease those anxieties, we’ve said, “Why don’t you join our team? We’re going to provide you the opportunity to join our Junior Consultant Program.” Essentially what that means is we have up to ten places every year across our network. The radiologist joins having just finished training and they spend about half the time doing general clinical practice, usually in a large clinical environment where there’s at least one or two radiologists available to be there to support them. And half the time they do a Fellowship Program. Most of the time, the radiologists finish their residency and they feel a little bit undercooked on MRI and so this is a perfect synergy with Medality being able to tap into their amazing MRI resources not only to do some didactic teaching, but also to allow our newly trained residents to do some virtual fellowships throughout the year.
The other really important part of all of this, and I can’t stress this enough, is that they know what to expect at the start of the year. Usually it’s a 12 month program and we offer them not only the online mentorship, but we schedule frequent events throughout the year, some of which are online with the team at Medality, but also one on one mentorship throughout the year with our own team in Australia.
So we bring on a variety of consultants. Some of them are dedicated MRI specialists and some of them like me, I’m a Cardiothoracic Imager, but I do a lot of MRI. I give them more of a day to day, mentorship and sponsorship. So it’s really important to cover all of the bases…it’s about recruiting, it’s about making our more junior consultants feel supported, as well as providing them with a really high quality educational product.
Daniel Arnold
Thanks, Catherine and a few elements of this program to highlight. We have a broad range of fellowships and so we can personalize it to the junior consultants interest. Some might want to go deep into MSK and Neuro, others might want to go into Advanced Body or Breast and so they can pick and choose and develop multiple specialties in a period of time to reduce their burnout because they get to practice across a wide range of their interests as well as become really versatile members of the reading team. If they’re doing all the same thing every day, we know, that leads to less happy and less fulfilled radiologists.
In addition, it’s extremely data driven. You can see a chart here on the slide where we can track each junior consultant’s performance across misrates, accuracy, time it takes to read cases, make sure that they’re seeing enough volume and competent before they get set loose into an area so that I-MED knows they can provide extremely high quality of care.
We’ve been talking more and more with groups in the U.S. looking at whether this model might be achievable. At a recent conference I was at with about 30 presidents of private practices, I asked “how many of you are willing to hire right out of residency and no longer require a fellowship”? And over half of the hands were raised and I’m confident that that was not the case five years ago when we started this program and I-MED paved the way.
But one of the things that they really struggle with is there’s quite a bit of administrative burden to pull off this program at scale and that’s where we come in with our team. We handle all of the administrative work so that the clinicians aren’t dealing with additional burden in order to drive this program forward and have successful outcomes from it.
One other key point is it’s great for these fellows to be able to come in and start earning a real income one year earlier and great for the program to have additional capacity. One thing that through this partnership and five years of building, we’ve now released a brand new product called a Fellowship Certificate Program, which is built on the years of experience running these programs. These mini fellowships include over 25 cases. They baseline not just your accuracy, but also your speed.
“How long does it take you to read Knee MRI? How long does it take you to read a Prostate MRI?” Are you improving as you work through those cases? Based on your performance, we recommend the right modules that are high efficiency modules, 2 to 4 minute videos that you can work through at the workstation, but you can also do it on your phone or your iPad.
This all comes together into a Mastery Scorecard. So I can see as an individual that I’m developing competencies, but then also as an administrator, I can understand where your strengths and weaknesses are.
Dr. Catherine Jones
And not only does that really reassure the resident or in this case the fellow, because they’re no longer residents, it reassures them that they’re getting enough coverage across all of the findings.
So, for example, I was one of the mentors on the MRI Knee program last year, and I had fellows that would say, “but I could report 100 MRI’s and never see any of these particular findings because they’re quite uncommon.”
And that’s where having the mini fellowships is ideal because all of those pathologies are covered. It’s an enriched learning environment. So every case that you look at has been designed to challenge the resident in a further and additional way. I like to call it the inverse Netflix effect. Here’s a case you’re not going to like because you’re going to have to learn something else. Which is what I want if I’ve got a limited amount of time to devote to learning.
We’re all time poor and that’s the same for me as the supervisor as well. When I see my fellows in the clinic with me and we do a readout session, I need to know that when they come to me and they’ve looked at those cases, because they’ve already done the online teaching material and then they’ve done the mini fellowship, that when they come to me and we talk through these cases, I’m not starting from scratch.
I don’t have the time to start from scratch and that’s really where the Medality product has led to not only the fellows being able to do this at their own pace at a time that suits them, but it’s allowed me to have the maximum effect, being able to take them that little bit further for how they actually interact with these cases in the in the clinical real world environment.
Well, the other thing that I would say is that since we started this program about five years ago, we’ve gone from quite a narrow offering, which is what we needed at the time to a really comprehensive offering of many fellowships. And I’m at the point now where I might actually do a few the next year because I’ve been so busy doing cardiothoracic the last five years I’d like to go back and do another MSK one. So Dan, we’ll be having a chat after this.
Daniel Arnold
And that’s a great segue to broadening how we work with groups. So this junior consultant program is one way which is around onboarding and hiring, but this spans across the radiologists through their entire life cycle within a practice. One of the things that we really enable groups is on practice expansion.
Everyone’s facing rising volumes in Cardiac CT, Nuclear Medicine, Pet CT, Pediatrics. Yet if you’re a 20 person group or even if you’re a 300 person group, chances are you can’t hire in those specialty areas and you’re going to have to look within your group to find readers that can work with them. And so, for example, we’re working with one large 300 person practice that needs ten more prostate readers.
We actually run a 360 degree survey of all of their clinicians to identify people who are interested in learning Prostate MR but don’t have the requisite skills. We enroll them in the fellowship and then we enable them to grow their practice. It’s something that the radiologists love because now they can learn a new skill, potentially one that reimburses better than maybe the volume that they’re currently reading and the practice is finally able to have a little more breadth of coverage.
Dr. Catherine Jones
I think the prostate MRI is a great example. In Australia, we suddenly had reimbursement approved about four or five years ago and so we suddenly not only had radiologists who were keen to upskill in that area anyway, but now we had a really good business case to have more patients coming through for that scan.
So we were able to identify the key areas of interest for us. And because the offering is so comprehensive from Medality, we just itemize them in order of priority and started working our way through. Another great example is Breast Imaging. Again, it can be difficult to find good quality online breast resources and it’s a very time intensive process to do that within your own clinic or to send somebody away to do an observership somewhere else.
This is another great opportunity to be able to provide that sort of in-house upskilling as a combination of the didactic teaching, the videos, the self assessment, the mini fellowships, and then being supported by your in-house radiologists who are experts in that field.
Daniel Arnold
The final thing I’ll say is, we’ve been growing really fast and I think one of the reasons for that is our focus on the product. This online educational experience is unlike anything else on the market. It’s fun, it’s easy to use, and we listen very closely to our customers and constantly innovate on the product and that’s why we’re happy to announce we just passed a 125th client, three times where we were this time at RSNA last year, as a testament to how much our radiologists, our end users love and enjoy working with it.
Dr. Catherine Jones
I think I can safely say that if for some reason…in fact we had a survey that went out across our 450 radiologists last year at I-MED asking: “Which of the following educational resources would you like us to retain? Which of the following would you like us to think about?” And it almost across the board, came back saying, “I don’t care what you do, but just don’t get rid of Medality” because honestly, it’s all in one place. It’s easy to access, it’s very user friendly and you’re able to download all of your certificates at the end of the year to say that you’ve had some CME. So it really ticks all of our boxes.
Daniel Arnold
Thank you. Thanks, Catherine. Thank you so much.
Transcript:
Congratulations on completing your continuing education activities.
When you are ready to claim your earned CME or CPD, make sure that you are logged into your account, click on the person icon on the top right hand corner of your screen, click Manage CME and then you will be taken into all of your accumulated CME.
There are a couple of different ways that you can claim your CME:
You can claim everything and this will show you all of the different subspecialties that you have earned CME or CPD hours on.
Click on the Claim CME button and it will generate your certificate.
You can also choose to claim the specific subspecialty or modality hours that you need. For example, if you want to claim CME that is only related to MRI, look at the modality column and click on all of the MRI related activities that you have completed.
Once you have selected all of the specific hours that you want, click on claim only selected, and it will tell you how many credits you have selected in that specific subspecialty. From there, click on Claim CME and your certificate will be generated.
From this screen, you will see all of your available Certificates that you can download for your records.
This is an example of our CME certificate and transcript. At the very top, it will show you your total earned CME.
The transcript below shows a description of those activities you earned credit for.
For members outside of the United States, who may have an hour equivalency know that 1 CME credit is equivalent to 1 hour of CPD.
You can also manage your CME hours by clicking the CME tracker located on the top right hand side of your screen. From there, you are brought to your CME portal which houses all of your completed continuing education activities.
You can filter through the pending section which is everything that is available for you to claim.
You can also filter through the claimed section which is everything that you have earned and currently have a certificate for.
The certificates section is a repository of all of the certificates that you have ever earned on our website. You can easily download them as a PDF so you can save them to your computer or send them directly to your compliance manager or accrediting body.
Whether you’re looking to broaden your knowledge or dive deep into a specific subspecialty, our radiology courses are designed to help you improve your ability to read images and make the right diagnosis. With an MRI Online membership, you can claim over 700 CME hours of AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ with more added weekly. MRI Online organizes our radiology courses into short, micro CME topics and automatically keeps track of AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ earned. As you learn with MRI Online, your CME credits accrue and can be claimed at any time.
Create an account ➡ https://mrionline.com
Sign up to complete your radiology CME requirements. We make your credentialing process easy. You can review all of our courses on your laptop or mobile device and instantly generate your printable certificate ➡ https://mrionline.com
About Medality, formerly MRI Online:
Medality is the leading practice development platform for radiologists and medical imaging organizations. Medality helps tens of thousands of radiologists from over 100 countries upskill in high-growth, advanced imaging areas with case-based microlearning video courses and integrated cases designed to simulate clinical practice from anywhere, anytime. Imaging organizations use Medality to improve diagnostic and reporting quality, reduce turnaround times, and expand their breadth of practice quickly in the areas they need it most.
Medality’s case-based education is accredited under MRI Online by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) and totals more than 700 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ across its platform. Learners can also earn SA-CME credits that meet the American Board of Radiology requirement for MOC as well as credits for MQSA, SCCT, NASCI, state licensure requirements and more. Courses are developed in partnership with hundreds of top academic faculty, such as Dr. David Yousem, Dr. Stephen Pomeranz, Dr. Petra Lewis, Dr. Don Resnick, Dr. Rachel Brem, Dr. Suresh Mukherji, Dr. Stefan Zimmerman, and Dr. Lacey McIntosh.
Accreditation Statement
MRI Online is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. MRI Online is qualified by the American Board of Radiology in meeting the criteria for self-assessment toward the purpose of fulfilling requirements in the ABR Maintenance of Certification Program to offer SA-CME credit for enduring materials.
In this episode of “The Radiology Report,” we have the privilege of sitting down with Dr. Woojin Kim, a true luminary in the field of radiology and medical technology entrepreneurship.
Join us as we dive deep into Dr. Kim’s fascinating journey, from his early interest in computer science to becoming a entrepreneur who has made significant waves in the radiology industry. Together, we’ll explore his innovative ventures, from Yottalook to Montage, and now to Rad AI, uncovering the valuable lessons he’s learned along the way.
If you are interested in learning from more leaders in the radiology industry, tune in to the rest of our episodes on the Radiology Report.
You can also listen to the episode on our Youtube channel.
