Organizing OneNote to Rock Your Radiology Training

Posted on June 14, 2015 | 1 comment

Radiology residents have a massive volume of information to keep track of in the discipline, consisting of texts, images, and sometimes videos.

The variety of data type is made more complex by the data sources, from website clippings, PDF from PubMed, a slide from noon conference, or simply freehand typing.

To complicate matters, a resident also must keep abreast many sets of requirements, documentations, conferences, reimbursements, and academic projects.

How do you keep track of it all? Continue reading →

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Posted in Residency Productivity 'Hacks', Technology and Informatics

Opening Up – Adding Value to Your Open Source Project

Posted on June 9, 2015 | Leave a comment

This is the third of a series of three posts on open source software. The discussion is geared towards non-programmers who – more frequently than expected – becomes involved in an open-source project.

Open-source is a complex paradigm, but sometimes it is also thrown into an academic abstract or grant proposal without much thought. Previously I presented a basic description of open-source and discussed some common misconceptions about OS software.

If you were involved in an open-source project as the clinical expert (i.e. not the programmer), you are likely the team member best positioned to bridge this gap. This post focuses on how you are uniquely positioned to contribute. Continue reading →

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When IBM Watson Looks – Does It See Pictures or Patients?

Posted on June 8, 2015 | Leave a comment

This TV commercial caught my attention a few days ago.

In the TV spot, the narrator outlines the number of images a radiologist must parse through to find an abnormality. To help, IBM will teach its Watson “to see.”

Therein lies the problem: Seeing is not enough. Continue reading →

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Posted in Radiology Innovation and Quality, Technology and Informatics

Signature

Posted on June 5, 2015 | Leave a comment

A signature is our handwritten imprint on a document for authenticity.

A signature is also a unique identifier for what is distinctly us, like DNA and fingerprint.

Your work, too, deserves a signature. It deserves a sign of authenticity, and if you are proud of that work, mark it yours. If the quality of the work is not to your par, then don’t put it out.

Just as importantly, the work is itself a signature. Innovation is as much about doing something new as it is doing something you. An easy and sobering way to decide is to first write down all the components of a project onto a list. Then, strike away all the parts that could be accomplished by someone else. Your team will always solve those problems. But if nothing is left, then you have learned that the project doesn’t need you.

That which remains, then, is uniquely you. It’s your value-added. Your signature.

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The Natural Progression of Radiology as A Business Practice

Posted on June 1, 2015 | Leave a comment

The terminal destination of all products and services is commoditization.  So that’s a simple answer, though one that’s not all that simple.  The management journal Harvard Business Review dedicates several classic articles on the process of commoditization, including global competition, process modularization, and, simply, the natural resting place of a mature product.

So where does radiology sit in the natural growth process?  More importantly – as junior residents – what have we gotten ourselves into?

Where is radiology in the natural growth progression?

Credit: http://bigideabiology.wikispaces.com/ED+2.C

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The 5 Myths of Open Source – A Guide for The Non-Programmer

Posted on May 27, 2015 | 2 comments

This is the second of a series of three discussing open source software for non-programmers interested in informatics.

A previous post discusses what you can expect from a software project when it is “open source.” However, the concept of OS is not so clear cut.

This post aims to clarify five commonly held beliefs about open source.

Continue reading →

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What Is Open-Source? A Guide for The Non-Programmer

Posted on May 24, 2015 | 3 comments

This is the first of a series of three discussing open source software for non-programmers interested in informatics. I try to stay as accurate as possible while avoiding jargon.

Open source (OS) has been a popular phrase not only in software engineering but also in radiology. Open source is closely tied to DICOM, the most popular format in medical imaging, in part because many frameworks available to manipulate DICOM files are open source.

OpenSource2

A thorough discussion on OS is available here.  If you are more into an abbreviated 3-minute introduction, stick around.

Continue reading →

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7 Things Worth Checking out at SIIM 2015

Posted on May 18, 2015 | Leave a comment

Society of Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) is having its 2015 meeting in Washington DC from 5/28-5/30. SIIM is a wonderful event with something to offer to engineers, clinicians, and radiology trainees alike. For a resident it is also an opportunity to learn something new.

Aside from all the cool sessions during conference, also do remember to touchbase with old friends and meet new people. The point of a great conference is the great people.

During the day, though, it can be daunting to keep abreast all the things that are going on.

Here are 7 events that compelled me as can’t-miss sessions – to be used as a roadmap for myself at the conference, and shared with you now:

A World Without PACS

Woodrow Wilson A
Thursday, 8:00 am – 9:30 am

Traditional PACS – solutions with vendors, hardware, and software all integrated as a single offering, is a decades-old technology – Slowly, imaging in America is moving towards vendor neutral archives (VNA).

Continue reading →

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Putting Forth Your Best Work

Posted on May 13, 2015 | Leave a comment

Your academic mentors invest their time in your future, so they want to see you succeed.

Your friends and loved ones care about your well being, so they want to see you succeed.

Your department invest equipment and resources on your training, so it wants to see you succeed.

But the real world has no accountability to you, so it doesn’t have to care about your success.

That’s a good thing because the real world only cares about actual good work. So put your ideas project out there, and let the world see. Send out an abstract, write a paper, propose a grant.

Whatever the outcome, you learn where you stand. It’s the market economy at work, and the academic equivalent of an open beta test.

So it’s not so much about putting forth your best work – you can’t always tell what “best” is.

It takes courage just to put forth work, and more so to let the others decide.

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The Virtue of Being a Follower

Posted on May 12, 2015 | Leave a comment

One of my good friends – a respected colleague – once said, “I’m a follower, not leader.”

This (other) guy wrote a book on great followership (i.e. as opposed to leadership).

The first follower takes the courage to say, “Hey these people are onto something!”

The first follower is what makes a trend, just as the second point on a graph makes a line.

Being an expert follower is prerequisite for a good leader, and following is itself a form of leadership.

To all the followers out there, this list is for you:

  1. Thomas Jefferson, first a vice president, then president
  2. Barack Obama, first a senator under Clinton, then president
  3. Microsoft Windows, not the first GUI operating system
  4. Apple iPhone, not the first smartphone
  5. Facebook, not the first but the most successful social network
  6. Frodo, the second Baggins to bear the ring
  7. Jesse Pinkman, the sidekick you root for
  8. The Empire Strikes Back, the better follow-up movie.
  9. Pablo Picasso, a grand follower of classical realism before breaking free
  10. Twitter, a social network that celebrates the act following

So let us, too, celebrate followers.

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