Master of Medicine in Diagnostic Radiology

Purpose

This qualification focuses specifically on Diagnostic Radiology and provides learners with the knowledge, skills and attitudes. The qualification is according to the guidelines of the HPCSA and the College of Medicine of South Africa.

The qualification produces learners with expertise in research, which includes the ability to evaluate and implement research findings in the practice of Diagnostic Radiology specialisation and the ability to guide junior learners if the learner is in an educational setting usually as a component of work-integrated learning. Hence, the learners have competence in the practice of Diagnostic Radiology and can contribute to the need for specialist practice in the health sciences in South Africa.

The qualification provides learners with the foundation for continued personal and intellectual growth, gainful economic activity and for contributing to society at large through advanced patient care, innovation, scholarship and leadership in the field of Diagnostic Radiology.

Rationale

This qualification contributes to the drive to revitalise clinical research in a developing country like South Africa to enhance health care at all levels by identifying the causes of problems, facilitating diagnosis, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of care, and promoting good policy-making. The clinical research and training force is ageing and has also been steadily declining in numbers since the early 1990s. The combined burden of clinical teaching and training, health service and research thus fall on a shrinking and ageing pool of academics in health science faculties. This qualification improves the capacity to increase the production of trained health care workers and to train and inspire a new generation of clinical researchers and university teachers.

The qualification enables learners to register as specialists in Diagnostic Radiology with the Medical and Dental Professional Board of the HPCSA. The qualification produces learners with specialist training in Diagnostic Radiology, who register at the level of a specialist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa.

This qualification provides opportunities for future training and development of registrars in Diagnostic Radiology in the medical schools in South Africa. The applied competence and skills derived from their training in Diagnostic Radiology is sufficient to allow them to be accredited specialists with registration recognition with the HPCSA.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

A learner in possession of a similar qualification of the SA Colleges of Medicine of South Africa (CMSA) who wishes to register for this qualification in the same field must have a qualification for not less than two years and occupy a Registrar's post for the same period. The dissertation is completed within two years of registration unless the School Board grants an extension.

• Senate may on the recommendation of the Head of Department and Faculty of Health Sciences recognise up to one year of previous postgraduate or other experience. Such time has been spent in the present registrar's post when interpreting these rules.
• If a learner has completed the required period of practical training in a registrar's post but has not written the final assessment at the end of the prescribed period of six months' extension (not more than twice), such a learner may write the assessment in any other post in any Department, within or outside this institution.
• No learner can pass the final assessment before completing the research component of the examination.
• Must meet the requirement of registration and registrarship of the specific qualification.

Entry Requirements

The minimum entry requirement for this qualification is

• Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, NQF Level 8.

Or

• Appropriate Bachelors at NQF Level 8.

And

• Be registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa as a medical practitioner.

This qualification consists of the following compulsory modules at National Qualifications Framework Level 9 totalling 720 Credits.

Compulsory Modules, 720 Credits

• Applied Radiological Anatomy and Technique, 90 Credits.
• Applied Medical Physics, 90 Credits.
• Radio Diagnostics and Imaging, 360 Credits.
• Mini-dissertation (Radio Diagnostics), 180 Credits.

• Demonstrate specialist knowledge of disease processes related to Diagnostic Radiology.
• Perform and interpret Imaging in all modalities related to the practice of Diagnostic Radiology and to offer a specialised clinical opinion.
• Demonstrate the necessary skills required to initiate and manage a Diagnostic Radiology service.
• Demonstrate the ability to use a wide range of specialised skills in Diagnostic Radiology to identify, conceptualise, design and implement methods of enquiry to address complex and challenging problems; and have an understanding of the consequences of any solutions or insights generated within the field of Diagnostic Radiology.
• Demonstrate the ability to evaluate current processes of knowledge production and to choose an appropriate process of enquiry for Diagnostic Radiology.
• Demonstrate an ability to develop his/her learning strategies which sustain independent learning and academic and professional development.

The following Associated Assessment Criteria assesses the Exit Level Outcome in an integrated manner

• Use problem-solving techniques, which draw on her or his multi-faceted knowledge, to arrive at a diagnosis for a patient.
• Communicate efficiently and effectively with the patient and other health care workers as a team.
• Show sustained competence in skills necessary for the interpretation of Radiological investigations.
• Demonstrate competence and responsibility in the use of instruments and equipment necessary for this practice.
• Conduct all research with due regard for the moral, legal and ethical accountability and requirements of the profession.
• Practice Evidence-Based Medicine by critically evaluating published literature in the field and applies it in practice relevant to Diagnostic Radiology and Imaging.
• Guide junior learners who are studying or working in the same branch of specialisation: Diagnostic Radiology.
• Show respect for patients and colleagues that encompasses, without prejudice, diversity of background and opportunity, language, culture and way of life.
• Refer patients to practitioners who are more appropriately qualified than he or she is to treat a certain condition.
• Demonstrate an awareness, through actions or in writing, of the moral, legal and ethical responsibilities involved in individual patient care and the provision of care to populations.
• Consider both the impact of health care on the environment as well as on health.
• Strive to improve patient care, to reduce inequalities in health care delivery, to optimise the use of health care resources in our society and uses his or her professional capabilities to contribute to the community as well as to individual patient welfare by the practice of Diagnostic Radiology.
• Teach, through clinical practice at the specialist level relevant to Diagnostic Radiology, the application of knowledge from the basic to the advanced level to other professionals.
• Communicate this knowledge by teaching undergraduates and supervising interns and more junior colleagues in the speciality: Diagnostic Radiology.
• Use appropriate strategies for learning that will prepare him or her for continued professional development throughout life, both as a specialist doctor and as a responsible social accountable citizen.
• Acknowledge responsibility for continuing professional development (CPD) to keep up to date with new developments and to maintain accreditation and meet statutory CPD requirements.
• Identify personal limitations and develops the capacity of self-audit and participates in the peer review process, showing a willingness to seek help when necessary.

Integrated Assessment

Assessment is in form of

Physics

• Formative tests.
• Option of CMSA Part 1 Physics Radiology examination.

Anatomy

• Monthly tests.
• Option of CMSA Part 1 Anatomy examination.

Radio-diagnostics major

• Weekly Tutorials (group or individual).
• Multi-disciplinary meetings.
• Clinical department presentations.
• Work-based assessments for the recording of observed competences in procedural and reporting techniques by the use of Logbooks. The assessment of the learners for the level of training and competencies with a prescribed number of outcomes for various procedures at different levels of training.
• Monitored rotations organised in core modalities throughout the 4-year training period.
• Mock examinations prior to final examinations.

Exit examination: Part 2 CMSA Radiology examination (FC RAD (D))

The final assessment will consist of a written, oral, practical and clinical parts conducted by the College of Medicine South Africa (CMSA) (as stipulated by the HPCSA 2011) as the National Exit Examination.