Several years ago, we explored residents and fellows perceptives of the internship. They were done at the same time that discussions about the organization of radiology trainee years were under fruitful analysis and eventual change to the new format currently being introduced at the time of this writing. This report and the one to follow explore the relationship of the preliminary year to the subsequent residency interval and beyond. Each considers the effect on the various types of internships and their remembrance of them by senior residents and fellows.

In Radiology, like all of medicine, nothing is constant. Continually, new techniques beseech our attention, some have become essential to our practice whereas others fade fast and are quickly forgotten, At the same time, threats from our colleagues, or should I say competitors, are a constant challenge differing in quantity and urgency so as to make for us each year a unique list of agenda items for problem resolution. Need I say much more about the intrusions of government regulators, insurance companies, malpractice providers and plaintiff’s lawyers? And to top it off, the education of our residents, at least how that education is organized, has once more come under close inspection for possible alterations if not a complete metamorphosis.