Radiology Department
Letter from the Chair and Program Director
I would like to introduce you to the Department of Radiology and the newly established Texas Tech University HSC-El Paso Residency Program in Diagnostic Radiology. Texas Tech has a distinguished history in residency training and the beginning of a radiology training program is a most welcomed addition. The training program is divided into specialty radiology sections of Abdominal Imaging, Angiography and Interventional Radiology, Chest Radiology, Diagnostic Ultrasound, Emergency Radiology, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Mammography, Musculoskeletal Radiology, Neuroradiology, Nuclear Radiology, Pediatric Radiology, and Radiation Physics. The residents are exposed to each sub-specialty area and work closely with faculty members who have established expertise in these disciplines. The department is expanding its clinical services and subspecialty faculty to meet the needs of our clinical colleagues and the teaching programs for residents as well as medical students of the new Paul L. Foster School of Medicine.
Thomason Hospital is the primary teaching hospital and a Level I trauma center. Thomason is in the midst of a master plan development project which will double the Imaging Department, add a new outpatient imaging facility, and provide for a new Children’s Hospital addition. The department enjoys a warm and collegial relationship with other training programs within the hospital. The technology base of the department is "state of the art" with the latest CT, MR, and information systems technology. Our present procedure volume approximates 150,000 procedures/year. The department has operated in a filmless and paperless environment since 2005.
The training program is designed to enable residents to acquire and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and judgment necessary for competence in the practice of radiology. This is primarily achieved by involvement in clinical case material under direct supervision and guidance of the faculty. More formal teaching supplements this educational process by providing lectures, demonstrations and conferences as well as electronic teaching aids. Residents within the radiology residency training program are able to gain experience in both simple and complex medical problems.
Competency in radiology consists of the ability to plan appropriate and most cost effective imaging sequences, obtaining these studies with utmost concern of patient care, and transferring necessary information to the referring clinician in a timely manner. Residents are to not only learn interpretation skills in evaluating radiological images but to obtain competency in transferring this information in an efficient and effective manner. This is based on having the resident obtain background knowledge of the patient which may modify radiographic appearance or examination requests. The core knowledge, which the resident radiologist must become familiar (and which will require continuing study for the rest of one’s professional life) concerns the variety of pathologic findings that may be detected on images due to disease and the differentiation of these from normal, normal variations and technical artifacts. The resident must also learn to work closely with support personnel on patient care and administrative matters in order to assume competent and responsive consultative services and quality patient care.
The orientation program, for new residents, consists of early rotations through the basic services of chest, musculoskeletal, pediatric, and abdominal radiology. Orientation also includes a series of special teaching sessions on common radiology practices and procedures. Further instruction is presented during regularly scheduled departmental conferences. Residents are to be concerned and involved with quality assurance and other non-imaging issues involving total patient management during the radiologic process and are required to participate in a monthly quality assurance conference.
Arvin E. Robinson, M. D., MPH
Professor and Chairman of Radiology
Radiology Residency Program Director
Jesus Calleros, M.D.
Program Director