Developing an Education Budget for Radiology Vice Chairs and Leaders: An ADVICER Template

The Alliance of Directors and Vice Chairs in Education group identified the need to develop an education budget template as resource for our community. Having a framework and working knowledge of budgetary considerations is crucial to those with general oversight and executive managerial responsibility for departmental educational programs. An online survey was sent to all the Alliance of Directors and Vice Chairs in Education members. Survey questions included education funding sources, presence of vice chair of finance, expectation of revenue generation, existing education budget, funding decision-makers, education budget formulation and approval, vice chair of education's role in budget, education budget line items, and income statement review. The survey response rate was 41/81 (51%). A majority 26/41 (63%) of respondents had an education budget that typically included funding for all medical students, residents, and fellows but only a minority of respondents report they developed 10/22 (45%), approved 6/22 (27%), or regularly reviewed 6/21 (29%) this budget. In sharp contrast was the role of department chairs and administrators, who presumably all participated in this process. To assist in education budget development and review, as well as meet the need to improve participants' financial accounting knowledge as a key tenet of faculty professional development, the authors developed sample budget templates and an income statement primer. Our survey results suggested the need for an educational budget framework and financial accounting resources for those in radiology education posts, and resources have been provided.