Purpose
Radiology is a specialty that is used in virtually all specialties of medicine. Medical students also believe that more radiology should be incorporated into their medical education, and they believe they need it to become a competent physician. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of a supplemental radiology teaching resource for assisting with learning anatomy for first-year medical students and to investigate the difference in knowledge between students who did and did not use this resource.

Methods
A pilot study was conducted to see if a supplemental radiology database could be useful in helping students fill their gaps in radiology knowledge. This was developed using the Anki flashcard software commonly used by medical students. The database had 965 cards that covered high-yield anatomy and radiology concepts for each of the four blocks of anatomy (back and thorax, abdomen and pelvis, upper extremity and lower extremity, and head and neck). This database was made available to all first-year medical students (n=103) during their fall semester anatomy course after they consented. A survey was obtained at the end of the semester which evaluated the utilization and effectiveness of the supplemental resource. The student’s name and database utilization were merged with the student’s examination scores by block and then de-identified.

Results
Of the 96 students who consented, 81 responded to the survey, which was an 84% response rate. Of the students who indicated that they utilized the database frequently, 75% of them thought it was very useful. Of the students who used the database occasionally or less frequently, 83% indicated that the database was useful.

Conclusion
The radiology flashcard database was found to be useful for those students that used it, and this pilot study provides guidance that supplemental radiology resources could be useful for students.