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What is a Radiologist?

What is a Radiologist

WHAT IS A RADIOLOGIST?

A radiologist is a physician who specializes in medical imaging. This specialization requires four years of residency training and a national board certification exam. The residency training occurs after the physician has completed medical school and a year of medical internship. Some board-certified radiologists subsequently acquire further specialty fellowship training in a particular area of medical imaging.
When your health care provider refers you to IMI, your examination will be supervised and interpreted by a specialty-appropriate, fellowship-trained radiologist.

WHAT ROLE WILL MY EXAMINATION PLAY IN MY HEALTH CARE?

Medical imaging plays an essential role in the diagnosis and treatment of illnessses and disease processes in modern health care. Physical examination and laboratory results are routinely integrated with information from imaging studies in the evaluation of diseases and patient symptoms.

FELLOWSHIP TRAINING AND SPECIALIZATION

The complexity and capabilities of advanced medical imaging have grown rapidly over the past decade. Because of these technological advances, just as in many other applications of medicine, specialization in radiology has become critical in maintaining the highest quality and accuracy in medical imaging. At IMI, our board-certified radiologists are specialized in a variety of fields, giving us expertise in all facets of medical imaging. Not only does medical imaging often establish a patient’s diagnosis, but it routinely directs patient care and further workup.

HOW IS MY EXAMINATION PLANNED AND PERFORMED?

At IMI, a board-certified radiologist who specializes in the imaging of your particular condition will plan your examination. Based on your symptoms, physical examination findings, laboratory results, and information from your health care provider, the radiologist will tailor the requested exam to specifically address the area of clinical concern. In some cases the radiologist will conduct the examination him/herself. At other times, a board-certified radiologic technologist, who is supervised by our radiologists, will perform the study.

WHO INTERPRETS MY EXAMINATION?

In all cases, the imaging studies at IMI are interpreted by a board-certified radiologist. Most often, the study is read by a radiologist with fellowship training specific to the imaging study being performed; for example, a brain MRI study is read by a fellowship-trained neuroradiologist. IMI provides specialist interpretations with examination results often reviewed and discussed by a number of specialist radiologists.

HOW WILL MY PHYSICIAN GET THE RESULTS OF MY EXAMINATION?

In the past, your health care provider would have had to wait for the report of your examination to be mailed to him or her. At IMI, we now transmit your examination and results to your provider via a secure, confidential Internet connection. The results of your examination are available to your provider as soon as the radiologist has interpreted the images and issued the report, typically within 24-48 hours after your exam.

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