The RadCast International Roentgen Competition - Will You Be Crowned Champion?
Be part of the first international radiological anatomy competition!
After putting hours upon hours of our sweat, blood and tears (quite a mess really), we are so proud to announce to you *drum roll please* the RadCast international Roentgen competition!
So what’s the fuss about? That’s a great question.
Simply put, we understand that radiology teaching in both med school and as a junior doctor can be quite ‘poor’ (putting it politely). We don’t think this should be the case since radiology is so integral to patient diagnosis and management. Like honestly, who doesn’t get a scan these days? Whilst it is the duty of the radiologist to provide formal reports for these scans, often it is the non-radiologist who is the first one to view these scans and make a clinical decision based on what they see. That can be quite challenging when you’re not even sure of what you’re looking at! Plus, presenting radiological imaging is now commonplace in OSCEs which can be tricky if you don’t even understand the structures in front of you. So, what’s the answer? More radiology teaching of course! But let’s be brutally honest with one another, anatomy isn’t the most riveting of subjects and you can only tolerate so many radiology lectures that reuse the same ‘50 shades of grey’ joke. That’s why we thought we’d add a little bit of the RadCast magic and shake things up a bit. Cue the Roentgen prize.
We first had the idea several months ago when we were thinking of how best to motivate students to engage with learning anatomy. After much brainstorming, we remembered how our scalpel wielding surgical pals had ‘spotter’ competitions. Here, candidates would be asked to identify gross anatomy often on a cadaver. But then something clicked. We remembered how as baby first year radiology trainees, we had to sit an anatomy exam where we had to identify anatomical structures on radiological images. Then the lightbulb moment came. Why can’t we combine the two? Take the elements of the ‘spotter’ contests and merge it with radiological anatomy. Add in a sprinkle or two of competition and boom, just like that, the Roentgen competition was born.
So on the 13th of August 2022, between 10am to 12pm over Zoom, medical students and junior doctors from across the globe will clash to see who is the Roentgen champion. Candidates will face 50 radiological images and will be asked to identify the identify the arrowed structure over a time period of 60 minutes. Don’t worry, you won’t be put on the spot and you’ll submit your answers online. It will be tough, it will push you but ultimately, only one will be crowned as the champion; actually there may be two but it sounds more badass saying it the other way. For the victor go the spoils which includes certification of their international prize and a secret which we won’t reveal just yet.
To enrol, simply visit the competition page using the button below and register for the contest. There is a small fee of £9.99 to register but this is to cover the costs with the exam platform and for the invigilators who will be there on the day. Once you’ve registered, we’ll be in touch to get some details off you and to give you your unique candidate number. The registration deadline is the 6th of August 2022 (23:59 GMT).
Honestly, we’re super excited to finally get this off the ground and we look forward to welcoming all candidates to the competition.
If you have any questions, please do get in touch via hello@radcast.co.uk
Till next time,
From your ‘Nespresso machine in every office’ friends,
Muhammad, Jamie and Uzoma
RadCast Co-Founders
P.S. for those of you a bit confused by the name, Roentgen refers to Wilhelm Roentgen who first identified X-rays in 1895. Oh how time flies when you’re having fun with ionising radiation.