Health students with the X Factor

Sep 23 2008 By Diane Parkes

STUDENTS a Birmingham University are using cutting edge new technology to bring the real world into the classroom.

A newly upgraded £3 million radiography and radiotherapy suite at Birmingham City University allows students to simulate a hospital environment complete with three dimensional imaging and plastic dummies.

The 3D system, which is due to be officially opened tomorrow by Michael Graveling, president of the College of Radiography, is one of the first in the country.

Known as the virtual environment for radiotherapy training (VERT) the new suite ensures students are able to gain vital experience before entering a hospital and continue building on that learning throughout their entire course. By replicating the hospital environment in the classroom, it allows them to practice until they are perfect without the need to practice on real patients.

Mary O’Rourke, department head for health professions, says such new technology is the future. “It enhances the learning experience that the students have at the university,” says Mary. “It is also an aid to recruitment as prospective students are better able to understand the role of many of the health professions.”

PITY Rebecca. The mannequin spends all day being moved and shifted by radiography students who are aiming to diagnose a range of ills which are given to her. Lying under the X-ray machine, Rebecca has experienced more diseases than any mannequin should be expected to undergo.

“Rebecca is fully equipped with stomach, bladder, liver, kidneys...” says Helen Hopkins, clinical placement co-ordinator. “These can then be highlighted for the students. They can then expose these areas to radiation.

“It simulates a clinical environment which means that the students can do a practical session, positioning the patient correctly and exposing them to radiation.”

And they will soon know if they have either the positioning or the dosage wrong.

“If there are problems an alarm will go off so they can then rectify it.”

Also in the suite is Ursula, another mannequin which allows students to simulate ultrasound. Ursula can be pre-programmed with a range of different health problems which the students then need to detect.

While the simulations are no replacement for clinical experience, and all of the students will be constantly undergoing periods in local hospitals, they do offer additional practice.

“The suites are open each day and the students can come in here and practice when they want to,” says Helen. “Before we had this suite we had access to NHS facilities but that was only on a specific day for a given time. This allows the students to gain much more practical experience.”

And 20-year-old BSc Diagnostic Radiology student Mohammed Ayaz says it has substantially helped his learning.

“You are able to apply what you are being told in lectures in here,” says Mohammed who is originally from Manchester and now lives in Perry Barr close to the university’s North Campus where the new suite is housed.

“When you have tutorials in here it really helps that you are positioning the patient yourself rather than simply being told how to do it in lecture.

“And if you do something wrong here you are able to repeat it.”

Having that experience helps when the students are faced with their first real people.

“When we had our first placement three months into the course we did have more confidence because of having done it here before.”

STUDENTS wearing 3D goggles are watching intently as senior lecturer in radiotherapy Nick White explains how to position a patient for their dose.

On the screen in front of them an entire radiotherapy suite is simulated in 3D complete with radiotherapy machine, beams and patient.

Holding a handset which is modelled on that used to motor a radiotherapy machine, the students are able to decide the dosage and deliver it to their patient.

It may all be on a giant computer screen but for the students it allows as close a clinical experience as possible.

“The students are putting into practice positioning the patient and using the handset,” says Nick. “And it also allows us to see the anatomy of the patient, something which would not be possible in a clinical environment.

“The advantage of this virtual equipment is that students can gain the experience here in a classroom environment.”

Students really appreciate the chance to try their hand at the university.

“Having done it here in the classroom makes you much more confident when you are on your clinical placements,” says Kerrie Wilkins, aged 22, of Kings Norton. “When a patient is undergoing radiotherapy they have enough to think about without you being hesitant or uncertain.

“Just learning how to use the handset in the university means you have a better idea of what you are doing when you are in clinical practice.”

Now in her second year of a BSc in radiotherapy, Kerrie says the new equipment is a real bonus for the students. “It is really useful to hear something in a lecture and then be able to come in here and apply it,” she says. “It doesn’t make you over confident – there is nothing like being in clinical practice with real patients – but it does make you feel more prepared when you get there.”

As a third year BSc radiotherapy student, 40-year-old David Izon of Cotteridge has seen the changes the new suite has brought for students.

“I think it would have helped us if we had had this when we were in our first year,” he says. “You go on your first placement after just two months at university so you are really put in at the deep end and having been able to practice in here beforehand would have given us a lot more confidence.

“Now we are in our third year we are looking at a lot more advanced techniques so it is really useful to be able to practice here rather than just in a clinical environment.

“And it gives you more opportunities for experience. In a clinical environment when there are 45 people booked in for the day it isn’t always practical for us to be working with the patients as we will be a lot slower.”

And with radiotherapy having to be correct within millimetres, precision is the key. “If you do not have the positioning of the patient correct there is the risk that you are treating healthy tissue rather than the actual area they need it,” says David. “So positioning and dosage are really important.”

* THE new VERT suite will be open for viewing as part of two open days for prospective students. Taking place on October 3 and 4 between 10am and 4pm at the City North Campus at Perry Barr, more information about open days is available by calling 0121 331 5500 or on the www.bcu.ac.uk website.

* For more information on radiotherapy and radiography courses contact 0121 331 5595.