The evolving radiology landscape: the importance of effective leadership

Eur Radiol (2009) 19: 23212325DOI 10.1007/s00330-009-1427-1 OPINION

Giles W. L. Boland Alexander S. Guimaraes Peter R. Mueller

The evolving radiology landscape:the importance of effective leadership

Abstract Advances in technology and imaging techniques have propelled radiology into the centre of diagnostic and therapeutic medicine. However, all this success has come at a price, with radiology departments persistently struggling to keep up with increasing demand. In response, radiologists in many countries are giving up an increasing proportion of their traditional workload, often driven by teleradiology, causing them to become less visible within their organizations. As such, radiologists now risk being viewed as commodities by their peers. The failure to meet the increasing

stakeholder expectations is, at least in part, due to lack of radiology leadership. While the drivers for the radiology profession and the organizational structures for radiologists vary from country to country, this article will discuss the characteristics of good leadership and how these can be used to ensure radiologists remain centre stage in the provision of high-quality clinical care in any healthcare environment.

Keywords Leadership . Radiologist . Outsourcing . Turf . Teleradiology

Received: 20 September 2008Revised: 24 February 2009Accepted: 7 March 2009Published online: 27 May 2009# European Society of Radiology 2009

G. W. L. Boland (*) .A. S. Guimaraes . P. R. Mueller The Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USAe-mail: [email protected] Tel.: [phone]Fax: [phone]

Few would doubt the phenomenal rise in the importance and prominence of radiology within the medical community over the last two decades. Advances in technology and imaging techniques have propelled radiology into the centre of diagnostic and therapeutic medicine. Some physicians have even proposed that cross sectional imaging has contributed more to the advancement of medical science than any other development in the last generation [1]. The referral rate for radiological procedures (particularly cross sectional imaging) increased dramatically as referring physicians had come to expect that imaging could often solve their diagnostic dilemmas. Meanwhile, the implementation of newer and faster equipment combined with novel post-processing techniques, enabling such innovative applications as molecular imaging, continues to keep radiology in the spotlight.

However, all this success has come at a price. Radiology has become so successful that its stakeholders (hospital managers, referring physicians and patients) demand...