Radiology Forums

stim · Joined: 26 May 2006 Posts: 1 Location: Loughborough

Hi everyone,

let me begin by introducing myself as they may help place this post in context. I am a research associate at the Applied Vision Research Centre at Loughborough University. I have been recently appointed to research and develop training to aid anyone conducting breast ultrasound (mostly aimed at the trainee level). I am trying to get as much information as possible before starting anything. I believe that doing as much ground work as possible will lead to the development of an application that actually serves its intended purpose.

Now, I understand that a large part of US in general is physically manipulating the transducer, generating the best image and so on. Of course, a PC based training application simply cannot help you learn how to manipulate a transducer etc... That is what practical training is for. The purpose of this training is to help increase the ability to detect, correctly classify and report accurately the findings.

Secondly, most people have a very low opinion of PC training due mostly to the fact (quite simply) that it is really badly implemented. I am hoping to avoid falling into this trap. That is why I am here.

What I am not going to do is develop something that you sit through (almost with your eyes closed), randomly clicking buttons every now and again before finishing. This is going to be something much more involved, interactive, testing and hopefully enjoyable. Think of it as a supplemental training aid. Hopefully something that you will turn to when you feel you need to increase your ability to detect or diagnose particular lesion types for example, want greater exposure to images and examples with professional notations that can be called up if unsure or requiring confirmation that your classification is correct. I aim to have real time, dynamic (stacked, cine-view) video with which to learn and be tested from.

So, what I want is opinions on what would be useful, absolutely needed, really wanted, not wanted, most helpful, general thoughts on the idea of it, any comments at all!

This is your opportunity to contribute. Please take a moment.

Thank you in advance.

S.
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Dr S Chambers
Applied Vision Research Centre
ESRI
Loughborough