The impact of new imaging technology on health care, research, and teaching: an international symposium

Abstract

The highlights are reported from the fourth international symposium on the impact of new imaging technology on health care, research, and teaching held in San Francisco, October 23-25, 1986. Ninety representatives of academic radiology and industry from 23 nations discussed modern radiology from differing perspectives dependent on the political structure of their governments and the economic status of their peoples. Keynote addresses by leading health-care administrators from government, universities, industry, and hospitals provided insightful overviews of current health service, teaching, and research issues in the United States. Three recommendations were derived from the symposium: (1) more complete and objective documentation of the impact of new technologies on the cost and outcomes of health services is urgently needed, (2) technical specifications for imaging instruments need better definition in terms of the medical problems to which they are applied, and (3) radiologists and radiologic societies in industrialized countries should support more generously the local training in radiology in underdeveloped countries.