Impact of Interactive Radiology Education Sessions in a Minority High School Student Population

Purpose: Early exposure to the field of radiology is necessary to recruit a diverse workforce and can provide students adequate time to explore the radiologic sciences, receive academic support, and foster longitudinal mentorship to support career success. Although exposure of college and medical students to radiologic topics has been explored, fewer studies have evaluated early exposure in high school students, particularly in a predominately minority population. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of an interactive, radiology-centered curriculum on high school students’ knowledge of musculoskeletal anatomy and career interest in the biomedical health sciences.

Methods/Materials: High school students were asked to participate in an interactive didactic workshop on musculoskeletal (MSK) radiology. Students completed pre- and post-workshop surveys which assessed level of agreement/disagreement on a 5-point Likert scale concerning familiarity with radiology, interest in a career in medicine/radiology, and knowledge of MSK anatomy.

Results: A total of 56 high school juniors and seniors participated in the study. Students were predominantly from minority backgrounds (27 Black, 28 Hispanic, 1 Other) with varying levels of familial education (50 students had at least 1 caregiver with no degree, for 36 students neither caregiver had a degree, and 6 students had a caregiver with any graduate education). Following the session, results displayed that students had significant increases in familiarity with radiology (P < 0.0001), knowledge of the career path to enter medical and radiological fields (P < 0.0001), and ability to communicate radiological topics to their peers (P=0.0066) and family (P=0.0035). Students were also much more confident in their understanding of how X-ray technology works (P < 0.0001), their familiarity with MSK anatomy (P < 0.0001), ability to distinguish anatomical landmarks on X-ray (P < 0.0001), and ability to identify and differentiate between types of fractures (P < 0.0001).

Conclusions: Early exposure to radiological education and career paths increases students’ confidence and knowledge in radiology, and may empower underrepresented individuals to pursue career paths in the field.