LAUSR

More than any time in its history, radiology appears to be facing existential challenges. Is there a future for the specialty? What might that future look like? These are the questions put to one of us at a recent medical students’ careers day. It was plain to see that the student had given careful thought to what the future of radiology might look like. On further questioning, it became clear that the student had carefully considered the possibility of a career in radiology but seemed dismayed by what she viewed as a potential career ‘‘apocalypse’’. Why do all the training? It’s pretty much all going to be taken over by computers, isn’t it? Are we going to be left babysitting the computer mainframe with no respect and no patient contact? The truth, we suspect, is likely to be exactly the opposite. Although it is true we face changes and challenges in the future, it’s worth considering why it is that an apocalypse is fearfully anticipated. That you may have little or no patient contact is certainly something that springs to mind when considering radiology as a career. For some, the lack of patient contact is actually an asset and one of the reasons for entering a radiologic career. But remember that with the growth of interventional radiologic procedures, patient contact can often be very extensive. It is unlikely that in the foreseeable future autonomous robots will be doing angioplasties, abscess drainage, or bone augmentation. Interventional radiology helps make us even more secure and relevant. Radiologists have often been perceived as recluses, hiding behind computer screens and jealously guarding their knowledge. In actuality, this has become less and less true over the recent decades, as radiologists have become an integral part of patient management. There is no doubt that the