Virtual simulation is widely accepted as an effective pedagogy in Health Science education. Research has shown that virtual simulation improves knowledge retention, clinical reasoning and student satisfaction with learning. Other benefits of virtual simulation in education include the ability for instructors to provide experiential learning without the need for real human subjects (patients). The World Health Organization advises learning about patient safety through simulation as this provides practical experience without the traditional associated risks. As an educational tool, simulation exists in many valid forms including role play, inter-professional simulation and virtual reality simulation (M. T. Chau et al., 2022)
The Faculty of Health Sciences MAHSA University has integrated virtual simulation in our teaching, particularly in our Medical Imaging programmes. In Medical Imaging, students are usually taught the technical and theoretical knowledge to perform all the radiographic examinations through a pedagogical method in classroom courses on campus. As the students have little experience with conducting radiographic examinations, they tend to perform incorrect positioning techniques (both patient and equipment) as well as fail to pay sufficient attention to the patient's care and safety. Ortiz (2015) mentioned that with the lack of knowledge and competency of skills, students are prone to produce low diagnostic quality radiographic images and are exposed to unnecessarily high radiation dose. Indeed, the competency in conducting radiographic examination properly requires time and practice.
Here is where the emergence of virtual simulation in Medical Imaging education helps to shorten the learning curve and develops students’ competency and confidence in performing radiographic examination on real patient in clinical setting. Simulation training before students goes for their actual clinical placement especially the ones involving special modalities such as CT scan has been shown to be very beneficial. Exposure to the CT scan modality and parameters through the simulation will prepare students for the actual scenarios. Through the virtual reality simulator, students have the opportunity to experiment and manipulate many aspects of the procedure such as choosing a centering point, perform patient positioning and carry out the protocols. Students may also explore the influence of scan parameters on dose and image quality so that they can practice on patients for healthcare and safety reasons.
Due to the busy nature of the CT departments in health care institutions, students are usually not able to experiment and explore much during clinical training (Stowe et al., 2021). Therefore, a simulation intervention may help to fill in the gap and enhance students' skills with an overview of the procedure.
Figure 1: Medical Imaging lecturers setting up the simulator for teaching and learning
The Medical Imaging Department of MAHSA University has adopted the use of virtual reality simulators for teaching and learning in our Computed Tomography course. The Medspace.VR module provides students with access to a 3D virtual reality CT unit. The module, complete with adjustable couch, injection stand and control area, utilises high physical and functional fidelity, thereby improving transfer of skills to clinical environments. Upon completing the conceptual course of CT parameters and protocols for various examinations of head, thorax and abdomen & pelvis, our students are given hands-on sessions to practice the imaging technique including patient preparation, patient positioning, identification of centering & landmarks, protocol selection, CT planning and scanning and many others.
This is just one of the exciting new ways we are teaching our Medical Imaging students at the Faculty of Health Sciences, MAHSA University. Come by and visit us to know more about our programmes and how you/your child can have a cutting edge Health Science/ Medical Imaging education at MAHSA University.
Figure 2: Patient positioning, centering & landmarks and contrast media loading process
Figure 3: Request form to conduct CT examination
Figure 4: CT planning and scanning
Figure 5: CT practical test session
Words by: Medical Imaging Department, MAHSA University