FEATURE Royal BRisBane and Women’s hospital
Workshops and alliances such as the Academy of Radiology Research, an alliance of 22 professional societies in radiology and imaging, established in 1995 to increase support for research in medical imaging. In Australia there has recently been
a drive to recognise the importance of research in radiology. This has been led by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR). For example, a decision was recently made by RANZCR made to implement a new research component for Radiology Registrars (residents) commencing in 2010, aims to improve the overall attitude and awareness of research within the profession. Ingraining a research culture as part of earlier training may lead to more long- term engagement in clinical research by Radiologists. In line with this overall position, our
department made a commitment to develop research and to no longer be viewed merely as a service department in a teaching hospital. This decision was an important turning point, as a department striving for excellence first needs to recognise that research and teaching are core components of a successful and strategic programme. Additionally a high research profile improves a department’s standing for example through: Contributing to improvements in health outcomes and enhancing the department’s reputation in research Attracting, developing and retaining the best employees through an enhanced reputation Finding new research collaborations Attracting external funding. External funds can potentially be sourced through: Other projects Other departments Pharmaceutical companies Equipment providers Technology and process development Potential income from patents and other IP rights. This article will highlight some of the measures implemented in the past year to provide more structure around research conducted within DMI in order to promote a stronger research culture within the department.
In Australia there has recently been a drive to recognise the importance of research in radiology
THE DEPARTMENT The department provides a diagnostic imaging and interventional radiology service to inpatients of the 995-bed hospital and a busy outpatient service. 187,000 examinations are performed per annum with 18 radiologists, 16 registrars (residents in training), 80 radiographers (technicians), 25 nurses and 33 administrative staff. The department has four PhD
students (two are current radiographic staff members), one full-time Research Associate, a part-time Research Nurse, a Research Director and the newly appointed Research Coordinator. Areas of major research interest generated in-house are varied and include image processing and measurement, imaging of multiple sclerosis, neurovascular imaging (diagnostic and interventional), tumour perfusion imaging, computed tomography dose research and teleradiology. The
department also fulfils an important role in
multidisciplinary research, with more than 55 active collaborative projects, involving all imaging modalities. Each project has a lead radiologist who liaises with the clinical collaborators.
With this baseline of research activity in place, we were determined to implement improvements to our research profile. As a starting point, it appeared obvious there was a lack of administrative support and therefore, as a logical first step, funding was obtained for a full-time Research Coordinator position.
STRUCTURE FOR RESEARCH A major step toward improving the research profile of the department was the creation of the Research Coordinator role, commenced in October 2008 to manage coordination of research conducted within DMI. Although the department had an established process for work with external departments, prior to October, there was no official coordination or capacity for collection of research data for projects conducted within the department. The dedicated role of the Research
Coordinator, working in conjunction with the Research Director and other members of staff, including the newly established Research Committee, currently improves staff motivation to participate in research by aiming to achieve the following key objectives:
Imaging & Diagnostics Issue 3 2011 35
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