Monday, March 23, 2009

Teleradiology, a.k.a. the coolest job ever

I've been pretty interested in radiology (that means the study of X-rays and their interpretation, for all you laypeople) ever since I joined the diagnostic imaging club at the beginning of the fall semester. It's a cool area of vet med that you really have to practice regularly to get good at. And being good at it is fairly important in clinical practice - how else are you going to see what the inside of a dog or cat's body looks like without slicing them open?

The diagnostic imaging club sponsored a dinner lecture tonight, given by a board-certified radiologist who used to teach at the vet school but left a couple years ago to take on his own consulting business full-time. What I gather is that he pretty much does whatever he wants, within reach of a computer and an Internet connection, and interprets digital radiographs that vets send to him. He has contracts with some vet clinics, which then send him every radiograph they take so he can help them interpret the image. He also takes on individual case submissions, say from your average practitioner who usually feels pretty confident in analyzing radiographs on their own but has a case that they're not sure about and would like a second opinion on.

With a high speed of interpretation, combined with fees that are affordable to pet owners but still add up significantly for him, this "teleradiologist" has a pretty darn awesome job. It's really neat where technology has taken vet med in recent years.

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