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World J Radiol. May 28, 2016; 8(5): 506-512
Published online May 28, 2016. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v8.i5.506
Credentialing in radiology: Current practice and future challenges
Adam Youssef, Paul McCoubrie
Adam Youssef, Paul McCoubrie, Department of Radiology, Southmead Hospital, Bristol BS10 5NB, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Youssef A and McCoubrie P contributed equally to the conception and design of the paper, literature review and analysis; Youssef A wrote the paper; McCoubrie P performed critical revision and editing.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest associated with the authors or with their contributed efforts in this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Adam Youssef, BMBS, Radiology Registrar, Department of Radiology, Southmead Hospital, Southmead Road, Bristol BS10 5NB, United Kingdom. adamy@doctors.org.uk
Telephone: +44-300-3000089 Fax: +44-300-3000088
Received: October 29, 2015
Peer-review started: November 4, 2015
First decision: November 30, 2015
Revised: January 12, 2016
Accepted: March 7, 2016
Article in press: March 9, 2016
Published online: May 28, 2016
Abstract

Radiology has changed significantly in recent years. The volume of work has increased dramatically as has its complexity. Future radiologists need an adequate training and expertise in conventional practice as well as new techniques. This comes at a time when other stakeholders outside of radiology are voicing their own concerns. The rightly justified increasing focus on patient safety has placed even more emphasis on the demonstration of competent practice by all health care professionals. Credentialing has been put forward as a way to ensure a doctor is competent in specific areas. Credentialing may be an alien concept to many radiology trainees but moves are afoot in the United Kingdom to bring it to the forefront of its postgraduate medical training. Credentialing began in 20th century North America where it was linked to the process of privileging. It subsequently garnered a strong patient safety focus and has become a part of the international healthcare agenda. Not everyone agrees with credentialing, it has many criticisms including the risk of speciality “turf wars” and the stifling of medical excellence to name just a couple. Is credentialing in radiology here to stay or will it pass by quietly? This paper reviews the global credentialing movement and discusses how this may impact on future radiology training, using the United Kingdom as its case example.

Keywords: Credentialing, Medical education, Patient safety, Radiology, Accreditation

Core tip: The increasing complexity of modern radiology provides a challenge for training. Future radiologists need an adequate training and expertise in conventional practice and new techniques. Credentialing describes a process that has been used as one of the ways to ensure a doctor’s competence in specific areas. With the rapid change within radiology, should credentialing become a larger part of the process? This paper discusses the global credentialing movement and how this may impact on future radiology training, using the United Kingdom as its case example.