VCU Radiation Sciences powers up with a new tool

By Michael Ford
University News Services

Virginia’s only baccalaureate degree program in radiation therapy has acquired a radiation therapy simulator that will afford students hands-on training in the classroom that used to take place in clinics.

The Department of Radiation Sciences, in Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Allied Health Professions, recently began using the Kermath radiation simulator, which Jeffrey S. Legg, Ph.D., interim chair of radiation sciences, said recreates a learning platform that is identical to the real world.

“It will give the opportunity for hands-on education and training before our radiation therapy students get to the clinics,” Legg said. “The simulator provides the opportunity for repetition, allowing the students to master the skills they need confidently and competently before they begin the training that takes them to the clinical setting with patients.”

Radiation therapists are health care providers who administer doses of radiation to a patient’s body to treat cancer or other diseases. Simulation is a vital technology used in radiation oncology because it allows radiation oncology physicians and radiation therapists to plan patient treatments and to pinpoint the location of tumors.

VCU radiation therapy students will use the simulator to pinpoint the location of solid tumors using radiographic x-rays and fluoroscopy. The training simulator uses a life-sized mannequin with an interior skeleton that is visible on scans. Students will be able to practice the mapping technique used in radiation therapy to assure the same area on the body is treated each time. The simulator duplicates all the mechanical motions of a real linear simulator and uses three targeting beams that must be aligned for each treatment.

“Think of it as aligning three infra-red rifle scopes,” said Jason Metzger, radiation therapy program clinical coordinator. “With the advancement of radiation oncology, we tend to focus on new technology.

“This simulator allows us to teach the foundation of simulation,” Metzger said. “This foundation will allow our students to use and adapt to today’s computed tomography simulators.”

The simulator was donated by Sim Net Inc., based in Glen Allen, Va.