Digital teaching files – a useful teaching tool for the modern radiologist

Abstract

Radiologists have always collected copies of model examples and interesting cases encountered in daily practice to use for teaching purposes. A collection of teaching files is an important resource for medical education and the dissemination of knowledge in radiology. Furthermore, the presence of a radiological teaching file is also a requirement at several universities and tertiary institutions in South Africa and abroad, where radiology postgraduate training is conducted. The advent of digital radiology and the more widespread use of picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) have led to a unique opportunity to change the way that radiology teaching cases are collected, stored and managed. Traditional teaching file systems are rapidly becoming obsolete and incompatible with the digital environment of modern radiology departments.