A musical and computer graphics extravaganza greeted delegates to the biggest European Congress of Radiology (ECR) ever. European Society of Radiology(ESR) president, Prof. Bernd Hamm, in the opening ceremony tonight noted the record number of onsite and ECR Live delegates - over 28,000. The Society now has 75,502 members from 157 countries.
ECR features many new developments, and has expanded to become a city, with new venues added - the Cube for interventional radiology and the spectacular Sky High Stage with views from the 21st floor of one of Vienna’s few skyscrapers.
China is one of the “ESR Meets” countries, and 500 presentations are to be made available in Mandarin for the first time, Hamm announced.
Hamm struck some serious notes of his own. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a challenge, but one that radiologists should embrace, he said. AI will help to take care of routine matters, and free up the time for radiologists to communicate with patients, referring physicians and with colleagues. It will be positive, and it will make radiologists more visible. And in time patients may insist on having the latest diagnostic and therapeutic care, which will use AI.
Coffee and talk about radiology leadership
An informal setting new to ECR this year is “Coffee and talk”. These sessions are designed to encourage participation while delegates have their tea or coffee. Four radiology leaders, Yves Menu from Paris, Ricardo Manfredi from Rome, Konstantin Nicolaou from Tubingen and Jan Bosmans from Antwerp gamely put their reputations on the line with advice on how to and how not to chair a department. And acknowledging the ‘manel’ they invited a female radiology chair in the packed audience to share her experiences.
Some of their advice:
- Meet individual staff once a year to discuss how it’s going. Menu advises a one to one meeting with staff once a year. Nicolaou structures these metings around clinical, research and other matters.
- Manfredi advises face-to-face communication for important matters.
- Department chairs cannot attend every Board, so choose one a day, advises Nicolaou. Then when you pass the surgeon in the corridor, you can ask about that patient whose case you saw discussed.
- Be content with getting 70% right, advises Nicolaou, even though you want to do everything right.
- New department chairs should take their time when they start, and if they change something, explain it many times to everyone.
- Gender balance is good.
