SIIM

SIIM develops and standardizes a core imaging informatics fellowship curriculum by assessing and prioritizing National Imaging Informatics Curriculum (NIIC)-derived sub-topics to align training with advances in consumer technologies and interoperability standards.

Key Features:

• NIIC-based topic expansion: Expanded 29 broad curriculum categories into 114 detailed NIIC-derived sub-topics.
• Sub-topic prioritization: Surveyed fellowship directors to prioritize each sub-topic using a Likert scale.
• Teaching method assessment: Collected data on teaching methods for each sub-topic from fellowship programs.
• Cross-departmental partnership identification: Assessed and recorded potential cross-departmental collaborations for curriculum delivery.
• Consensus quantification: Analyzed director ratings to identify unanimous and mixed-priority sub-topics, including that 10 of 114 (8%) received unanimous "definitely" ratings and 77% received mixed grades.
• Topic categorization: Mapped sub-topics into four broad categories: Standards, Programming/Development/Software, Infrastructure, and PACS/RIS/Reporting.
• Core curriculum construction: Used consensus topics to construct a foundational core informatics fellowship curriculum.

Scientific Applications:

• Fellowship curriculum development: Provide a prioritized core curriculum framework for imaging informatics fellowships.
• Curriculum prioritization and consensus-building: Identify topics with high consensus and those requiring further discussion to inform educational standards.
• Inter-program collaboration facilitation: Reveal program-specific strengths and weaknesses to enable targeted collaboration between programs.
• Alignment with technology and standards: Guide updates to fellowship content to reflect advances in consumer technologies and interoperability standards.

Methodology:

Expanded 29 curriculum categories into 114 NIIC sub-topics; surveyed fellowship directors using a Likert scale to prioritize sub-topics and to assess teaching methods and cross-departmental partnerships; analyzed ratings to quantify consensus (including 10/114 unanimous "definitely" and 77% mixed grades) and categorized sub-topics into Standards, Programming/Development/Software, Infrastructure, and PACS/RIS/Reporting.