Temple University Hospital, the major clinical teaching facility of Temple University School of Medicine, was founded in 1891. Today's modern facility serves as both a tertiary referral center and a primary health provider for the surrounding community. The SmithKline Beecham Department of Diagnostic Imaging performs more than 275,000 procedures annually. The following provides insight into some of the hospital's extensive patient care services, research activities, and the Department of Radiology residency and fellowship training programs.

Department of Radiology: Residency and Fellowship Program


The Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program has been in continuous existence since 1932 and has trained more than 330 radiologists. While much has changed in the past 75 years, the principal objectives of the program have been constant. The goals are to equip our trainees with highly developed interpretative and procedural skills, provide them the opportunity to develop and refine their clinical judgment, encourage them to explore the world of research, and ultimately prepare them to thrive in the practice environment of their choice.

The residency in Diagnostic Radiology is a four-year program and provides all requirements for certification by the American Board of Radiology. The program is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. There are a total of 24 residency positions, six per year. Prior to matriculation, each resident must have completed a minimum of one year of clinical graduate medical training.

The entering resident takes part in an orientation program that begins with an introduction to radiation physics and safety, diagnostic technique, and department functions. The main component of the program is a didactic course in clinical radiology, consisting of more than 50 hours of instruction in which a basic general radiologic text, Brant and Helms, is reviewed with faculty.

The clinical services of the Department of Radiology are divided into subspecialty sections and further divided as subsections. Each section has a physician assigned administratively as section chief. Residents rotate through the various sections and, therefore, receive their training from subspecialty experts. Each section provides the resident with the required interpretation and procedure skills. The rotation system provides progressive experience so that the resident tackles more complex procedures only after mastering the more basic ones. It is firm Department of Radiology policy for the staff radiologists to review every study seen by a resident before formal report approval. The Department is fully digital and practically films, affording residents the opportunity to learn image interpretation in a modern PACS environment with voice recognition for transcription.