Introduction
Materials and methods
Study participants
Survey
No | Question | Answer options |
---|---|---|
1 | How old are you? | < 18, 18–24, 25–34, 35–44, 45–54, 55–64, or > 65 years old |
2 | What is your gender? | Male, female, or other |
3 | Where do you currently work or have you most recently worked?* | Academic hospital, non-academic hospital, non-hospital healthcare setting, other |
4 | In which country do you work or have you most recently worked?* | List of 30 countries, and open text field to indicate another country not listed |
5 | Are you a medical doctor? | Yes or no |
6 | How many years of experience do you have as a medical doctor? | < 5, 5–10, or > 10 years |
7 | Are you a medical specialist? | Yes or no |
8 | What is your medical specialty?* | List of 38 medical specialties, and open text field to indicate another medical specialty not listed |
9 | How many days per week do you currently work in clinical practice? | 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 |
10 | What type(s) of diagnostic radiology examinations do you request in clinical practice?* | None, plain radiography, ultrasonography, CT, MRI |
11 | How many of your plain radiographs do you interpret completely by yourself, without consulting a radiologist or reading his/her report? | None, 1–25%, 26–50%, 51–75%, 76–99%, or 100% |
12 | How many of your ultrasonography examinations do you perform and interpret completely by yourself, without consulting a radiologist or reading his/her report? | None, 1–25%, 26–50%, 51–75%, 76–99%, or 100% |
13 | How many of your CT examinations do you interpret completely by yourself, without consulting a radiologist or reading his/her report? | None, 1–25%, 26–50%, 51–75%, 76–99%, or 100% |
14 | How many of your MRI examinations do you interpret completely by yourself, without consulting a radiologist or reading his/her report? | None, 1–25%, 26–50%, 51–75%, 76–99%, or 100% |
15 | In your opinion, how much does medical imaging contribute to improving patient-relevant outcomes? | 0–10 point linear scale, with 0 indicating nothing and 10 indicating very much |
16 | Do you expect that medical imaging utilization will increase in the coming 10 years? | Yes, no, or undecided |
17 | Do you expect that we need more or less diagnostic radiologists in the coming 10 years? | More, neither more nor less, less, or undecided |
18 | Do you expect that artificial intelligence will make diagnostic radiologists redundant in the coming 10 years? | Yes, no, or undecided |
Data analysis
Variable | Category | Count | Percentage |
---|---|---|---|
Age | < 18 years | 1 | 0.3% |
18–24 years | 2 | 0.6% | |
25–34 years | 23 | 6.9% | |
35–44 years | 60 | 18.1% | |
45–54 years | 77 | 23.3% | |
55–64 years | 89 | 26.9% | |
> 65 years | 79 | 23.9% | |
Gender | Male | 246 | 74.3% |
Female | 83 | 25.1% | |
Other | 2 | 0.60% | |
Type of workplace | Academic hospital | 271 | 81.9% |
Non-academic hospital | 22 | 6.6% | |
Non-hospital healthcare setting | 11 | 3.3% | |
Other workplace | 18 | 5.4% | |
Combination of different workplaces | 9 | 2.7% | |
Country of work | Argentina | 1 | 0.3% |
Australia | 11 | 3.3% | |
Austria | 1 | 0.3% | |
Belgium | 7 | 2.1% | |
Brazil | 4 | 1.2% | |
Canada | 23 | 6.9% | |
China | 2 | 0.6% | |
Colombia | 2 | 0.6% | |
Costa Rica | 1 | 0.3% | |
Cyprus | 1 | 0.3% | |
Denmark | 1 | 0.3% | |
Finland | 1 | 0.3% | |
France | 11 | 3.3% | |
Germany | 8 | 2.4% | |
Greece | 3 | 0.9% | |
India | 13 | 3.9% | |
Indonesia | 1 | 0.3% | |
Iran | 1 | 0.3% | |
Ireland | 1 | 0.3% | |
Israel | 4 | 1.2% | |
Italy | 16 | 4.8% | |
Japan | 2 | 0.6% | |
Kazakhstan | 1 | 0.3% | |
Malaysia | 3 | 0.9% | |
Mexico | 2 | 0.6% | |
New Zealand | 1 | 0.3% | |
Norway | 4 | 1.2% | |
Palestine | 2 | 0.6% | |
Peru | 2 | 0.6% | |
Romania | 2 | 0.6% | |
South Africa | 5 | 1.5% | |
Spain | 9 | 2.7% | |
Sweden | 8 | 2.4% | |
Switzerland | 8 | 2.4% | |
Tanzania | 2 | 0.6% | |
Thailand | 1 | 0.3% | |
The Netherlands | 32 | 9.7% | |
Turkey | 4 | 1.2% | |
Uganda | 3 | 0.9% | |
UK | 56 | 16.9% | |
USA | 64 | 19.3% | |
Zimbabwe | 1 | 0.3% | |
Multiple countries | 6 | 1.8% | |
Medical specialist | Yes | 307 | 92.7% |
No | 24 | 7.3% | |
Medical specialty | Allergy and immunologyd | 1 | 0.3% |
Anesthesiologyd | 6 | 2.0% | |
Cardiologyd | 15 | 4.9% | |
Cardiothoracic surgeryc | 1 | 0.3% | |
Chemical pathology and metabolic medicined | 1 | 0.3% | |
Clinical geneticsd | 1 | 0.3% | |
Clinical pharmacologyd | 1 | 0.3% | |
Dermatologyd | 3 | 1.0% | |
Emergency medicined | 6 | 2.0% | |
Endocrinologyd | 11 | 3.6% | |
Family medicined | 4 | 1.3% | |
Gastroenterologyd | 8 | 2.6% | |
Geriatricsd | 1 | 0.3% | |
Hematologyd | 6 | 2.0% | |
Hepatologyd | 1 | 0.3% | |
Infectious diseasesd | 15 | 4.9% | |
Intensive care medicined | 4 | 1.3% | |
Internal medicined | 16 | 5.2% | |
Medical oncologyd | 21 | 6.8% | |
Medical ethicsd | 1 | 0.3% | |
Nephrologyd | 8 | 2.6% | |
Neurologyd | 14 | 4.6% | |
Neurosurgeryc | 5 | 1.6% | |
Obstetrics and gynecologyc | 11 | 3.6% | |
Ophthalmologyc | 4 | 1.3% | |
Orthopedicsc | 2 | 0.7% | |
Otorhinolaryngologyc | 4 | 1.3% | |
Pathologyd | 2 | 0.7% | |
Pediatricsd | 12 | 3.9% | |
Physical medicine and rehabilitationd | 1 | 0.3% | |
Psychiatryd | 3 | 1.0% | |
Public healthd | 5 | 1.6% | |
Pulmonologyd | 22 | 7.2% | |
Radiation oncologyd | 7 | 2.3% | |
Rheumatologyd | 11 | 3.6% | |
Surgery, generalc | 7 | 2.3% | |
Surgery, oncologicc | 8 | 2.6% | |
Surgery, pediatricc | 1 | 0.3% | |
Surgery, transplantc | 1 | 0.3% | |
Surgery, vascularc | 4 | 1.3% | |
Urologyc | 4 | 1.3% | |
Multiple non-surgical specialties | 38 | 12.4% | |
Multiple surgical specialties | 8 | 2.6% | |
Non-surgical and surgical specialty | 2 | 0.7% | |
Years of clinical experience as medical doctora | < 5 years | 12 | 3.6% |
5–10 years | 30 | 9.1% | |
> 10 years | 288 | 87.3% | |
Current number of working days in clinical practice per weekb | 0 | 40 | 12.1% |
1 | 24 | 7.3% | |
2 | 48 | 14.5% | |
3 | 31 | 9.4% | |
4 | 22 | 6.6% | |
5 | 117 | 35.3% | |
6 | 25 | 7.6% | |
7 | 17 | 5.1% |
Results
Characteristics of eligible participants
Value attributed to medical imaging
Dependency of clinicians on radiologists: radiography
Proportion completely self-interpreted examinations | Radiographya | Ultrasonographya | CTb | MRIb |
---|---|---|---|---|
None | 26.5% (n = 62) | 62.7% (n = 158) | 57.4% (n = 152) | 67.2% (n = 170) |
1–25% | 23.5% (n = 55) | 13.5% (n = 34) | 15.1% (n = 40) | 15.8% (n = 40) |
26–50% | 9.4% (n = 22) | 5.2% (n = 13) | 8.7% (n = 23) | 7.5% (n = 19) |
51–75% | 9.8% (n = 23) | 3.6% (n = 9) | 8.7% (n = 23) | 5.9% (n = 15) |
76–99% | 21.8% (n = 51) | 4.0% (n = 10) | 6.8% (n = 18) | 2.4% (n = 6) |
100% | 9.0% (n = 21) | 7.5% (n = 19) | 3.4% (n = 9) | 1.2% (n = 3) |
Dependency of clinicians on radiologists: ultrasonography
Dependency of clinicians on radiologists: CT
Dependency of clinicians on radiologists: MRI
Projected medical imaging utilization
Projected radiologist workforce requirement
Projected impact of AI on the need for diagnostic radiologists
Qualitative analysis narrative comments
Discussion
Declarations
Guarantor
Conflict of interest
Statistics and biometry
Informed consent
Ethical approval
Study subjects or cohorts overlap
Methodology
-
not applicable
-
experimental
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performed at one institution