The UK’s first three-dimensional “virtual” radiotherapy training facility has been developed by the University of Hull and Hull’s Princess Royal Hospital.
Virtual Environment for Radiotherapy Training (VERT) is a virtual replica of a radiation therapy room and gives users the sense of being present in an actual treatment room.
The interactive training suite gives radiotherapy, radiography, nursing students and professionals the chance to develop and modify their skills. Treatment is targeted and administered via an actual linear accelerator handset which has been interfaced with the programme.
The system was the brainchild of the University’s Professor Roger Phillips in response to the need for more training facilities to improve cancer outcomes in the UK.
Radiotherapy training facilities are currently severely limited. No radiotherapy machines are set aside for training staff and there is an international shortage of treatment staff to train practitioners.
Prior to the development of this technology, the only option for practising such skills were on real patients. This limited the opportunities for practise and increased the potential for mistakes.
VERT enables real life patient cases to be loaded onto the software, giving students access to an infinite number of case studies including rare and difficult ones. In addition, it enables students to see exactly how accurate the radiation process has to be. Precision is everything – being as much as 4 mm out can cause damage to organs adjacent to the area being treated and students are given a powerful demonstration of the consequences of their actions.
The University of Hull is in the process of developing a consortium with other universities and manufacturers to investigate how the application can be used to the full. Aarhaus University Hospital in Denmark, Hertfordshire University Hospital and the University of Central England are currently replicating this technology and building their own training suites.
