As an organization, the CAR continued to draw attention to critical issues in our healthcare system that impact the lives of Canadian patients and worked with key partners on finding lasting solutions. Frequent topics of discussion, internally and with external stakeholders, focused on advocacy, specifically radiology workforce challenges, as well as artificial intelligence and equipment. The CAR Journal has maintained its exceptional trajectory by continuing to attract a high number of submissions and turning them into publications at an incredible rate. As well, the CAR took a major step forward in expanding the available offerings for facility accreditation beyond Mammography and into new modalities like CT, certifying Niagara Health with the first accreditation of its kind in Canada.
Patients across Canada continue to experience extremely long wait times for medical imaging, a critical issue in patient care that has quickly gained attention from Canada’s news media. There is a huge supply and demand discrepancy in radiology, especially for medical radiation technologists. During this year’s Day on the Hill in October, the CAR continued its push for investments from the Federal government in the radiology workforce, equipment, and AI. To drive home the point with federal officials, a mobile ultrasound clinic and mammography van were brought in to provide live demonstrations of the critical place of radiologists and technicians in delivering patient care. Health human resources in radiology remains at the top of the list and the CAR will push forward into the new year with a number of stakeholder groups with like-minded priorities to help strengthen our position and develop a strategy at the national level to address this challenge.
Under the leadership of Dr. Michael Patlas, Editor-in-Chief, and the contributions of the Editorial Board, the CARJ has expanded its visibility. They have introduced an international advisory board and doubled the number of submissions over the previous year. They have also increased their visibility on social media with a high level of engagement. We are continuously looking to build on the current impact factor, however, to achieve this we need to increase capacity and the number of reviewers of submissions. If members are interested in getting involved as journal reviewers, please reach out to [email protected].
The CAR has built strong partnerships with stakeholders with similar objectives to align our advocacy, education, and accreditation priorities. These stakeholders include national organizations such as the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Association of Medical Radiation Technologists, and Sonography Canada, many of whom were active partners for critical events in 2024, like the Day on the Hill and the Conference on Digitized Referrals.
We also have strong partnerships with our provincial counterparts in Alberta, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Manitoba, ensuring the same messaging is being received at the provincial level as well as the federal level. Our provincial partners have been instrumental in the CAR’s ability to host educational events across the country and meet our members where they are with the expertise they desire. These partnerships are key to our success in improving quality and access to medical imaging within Canada.
The CAR Board took an in-depth look at our current strategic priorities and how, as an association, we are meeting our objectives for advocacy, engagement, accreditation, innovation, patient care, and education. We are succeeding in all areas; we will continue to focus on membership and offer increased value through expanded member benefits, growing accreditation programs, and a revamped education program to make it relevant and engaging for our members.
There is a strong push on innovation and post-market validation of new AI applications and our proposed concept of a Health AI Validations Network (HAIVN) to fulfill this role includes radiology as well as all health AI applications. Validating and incorporating AI technologies was discussed in various forums throughout the year with federal officials, radiology stakeholders, and CAR members. We are excelling on guideline development and are making traction on our advocacy initiatives.
I anticipate an amazing year in 2025 as we continue to expand on our programs and advocacy work. Our success is directly attributed to the dedicated effort of our members. We are grateful for your continued support and the leadership of our volunteers.
Wishing you and your families a safe and joyful holiday season.
Dr. Ania Kielar
CAR President