15-Month Pathway

to Specialty Certification in Diagnostic Radiology and Subspecialty Certification in Pediatric Radiology

 

Requirements

• Candidates seeking to apply to the 15-month pathway must submit the application and Sponsoring Department Agreement (SDA) for ABR review at least six months before diagnostic radiology (DR) residency training completion. It is recommended that the candidate inform their residency program director and pediatric radiology preceptor at least 18 months prior to graduation to ensure that the proposed program satisfies requirements for SDA approval.
• An approved candidate who has completed a total of 15 months of experience in pediatric radiology during the 48-month DR residency may qualify to sit for the ABR’s subspecialty certificate in pediatric radiology.
• To qualify for this pathway to subspecialty certification, all 15 months of experience must be in an ACGME- or RCPSC-accredited DR program.

• • There is no requirement for a pediatric radiology fellowship at the same institution.
  • The 15 months may be completed at any time during the DR residency training; there is no requirement for consecutive months.

• The 15 months is comprised of 12 core pediatric rotations and up to three pediatric radiology-related rotations. The collective experience for core pediatric rotations counting toward this pathway should involve on average greater than 80% of cases being in pediatric patients.

• • Research rotations are not accepted.
  • The training must meet ACGME program requirements for clinical experiences in pediatric radiology across modalities including radiography, fluoroscopy, ultrasound, CT, MRI, nuclear medicine and molecular imaging (NMMI), as well as interventional procedures.
  • The training must include experience across pediatric subspecialty areas including pediatric neuroradiology, pediatric body imaging, fetal imaging, pediatric cardiovascular imaging, pediatric musculoskeletal imaging, and pediatric NMMI.
  • The training must include experience representing age-related (fetal/neonate/infant/child/adolescent) normal anatomy, growth and development, and the spectrum of disorders.
  • The training must be overseen by a preceptor who is an ABR pediatric subspecialty certified radiologist at the time of application and throughout the duration of the pathway. If a training program loses its pediatric subspecialty certified radiologists, the program cannot continue.

 

Pediatric Radiology-related Rotations

• At the discretion of the diagnostic radiology program director and the candidate, up to three months of the 15-month training may be focused on either additional subspecialty training within pediatric radiology or in areas outside of pediatric radiology to gain technical expertise applicable towards pediatric patients; for example, gaining expertise in adult-oriented cardiac imaging that includes patients with treated congenital heart disease.
• Proposed rotations in any related, primarily adult radiology subspecialties must have substantial exposure to pediatric radiology content.
• The ABR pediatric radiology trustee, assisted by ABR staff, will evaluate the proposed training plan, and make a final determination based on each individual trainee application’s merits and qualification.

 

Exams

Approved candidates follow the same exam schedule as candidates for the standard pathway in diagnostic radiology and for the subspecialty in pediatric radiology.

 

Recognition of Successful Candidates

Successful candidates are awarded a continuous ABR specialty certificate in diagnostic radiology and a continuous ABR subspecialty certificate in pediatric radiology.

 

Board Eligibility

• For diagnostic radiology, see Board Eligibility Policy for details.
• For the pediatric radiology subspecialty, diplomates who successfully completed their training will have six calendar years to obtain pediatric radiology subspecialty certification.

 

Application

The application form is located here.

The Sponsoring Department Agreement (SDA) form will require the signature of the program director and the nuclear radiology/nuclear medicine preceptor. Click here for the form.