Simulator helps early career radiologists master imaging appropriateness and other concepts
Molding radiologists of the future will likely require new methods to keep learners engaged, and one New York institution is finding success using a gaming-like approach to training.
Weill Cornell Medicine created the Interactive Clinical Anatomy and Radiology Utilization Simulator or ICARUS utilizing 25 different peer-reviewed electronic modules. The program incorporates everything from simulated patient encounters to American College of Radiology appropriateness criteria, experts detailed Thursday.
ICARUS has been deployed as part of an inaugural virtual radiology electives offering amid the pandemic beginning in July. Weill Cornell and the University of North Carolina have found promising signs when interviewing the enrolled students. The majority either “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that modules fostered critical thinking, provided value, and seemed practical to future care delivery.
“While ICARUS was initially created to serve as an immersive educational tool in a practice simulation manner, these learning modules have addressed unanticipated medical student educational needs,” Lily Belfi, MD, with the Department of Radiology at Weill Cornell, and co-authors wrote April 23 in Academic Radiology. “The COVID-19 pandemic forced much of the previously in-person pre-clinical medical student lectures and clinical rotations into remote online formats. ICARUS modules emphasize critical thinking and patient safety at the same time they facilitate student safety and social distancing,” they added.
Leaders first designed the novel program back in 2012. It integrates key educational concepts in the specialty offering “high fidelity” simulation of clinical decision support software and PACS image display to offer a “highly engaging learning environment that most accurately reflects future clinical experiences.” Prior to the pandemic, educators have deployed ICARUS in radiology clerkships, longitudinal curriculum and various electives.
Belfi and colleagues note that simulation has been underutilized in radiology. They see promise with such offerings and said follow-up analyses could explore ICARUS’ impact on quality of care delivered by its users.
“In the future, it would be useful to quantitatively assess student understanding of imaging appropriateness before and after simulator educational sessions assigned during the newer longitudinal curriculum, and to assess the image ordering practices when students transition to practicing physician,” they wrote.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.