The radiology residency program at the State University of New York at Buffalo will shut down by the end of 2008, according to school officials. The radiology department has struggled for the last two academic years to maintain its good standing with the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
The voluntary withdrawal by the department will affect 14 radiology residents who trained at a number of healthcare centers affiliated with the university, including Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the Kaleida Health system. The 14 residents will receive assistance in relocating to other programs in the U.S., according to Dr. David Dunn, Ph.D., the university's vice president for health sciences.
One issue the university grappled with was the complexity of coordinating a single program at different institutions versus being sited at a main university hospital, Dunn said. This made it difficult to maintain a level of training and education that was consistent with accreditation guidelines (Spectrum, October 10, 2006; University of Buffalo News Center, September 20, 2006).
Buffalo's diagnostic radiology program was first accredited in 1976 and maintained that status until 2003-2004, when it was given probationary accreditation by the ACGME. By April 2006, the program was put on full probation.
The Buffalo program is the third one to bow out from the ACGME in recent years. Imaging residency programs at Louisiana State University in New Orleans and New York Methodist Hospital in New York City voluntarily withdrew from the accreditation process in the academic year 2005-2006.
According to the ACGME, a program "may request voluntary withdrawal of accreditation without prejudice," and programs have the option to restructure and reapply for accreditation. Dunn said that the SUNY Buffalo medical school will look into revamping the radiology residency program, as it did with its otolaryngology training program. The latter program was disbanded in 2002, restructured, and will begin again in 2007.
The closing of the residency program should not affect radiology services, Dunn said. Any potential restructuring may mean hiring more staff radiologists, he said.
By AuntMinnie.com staff writers
October 11, 2006
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