"

Ryan Stockard

Enhancing Medical Imaging Education: Student Perception of Color-Mapping and Simulation Training

Authors: William Auffermann, MD, PHD

Department: Radiology

 

Background/Purpose: Perception in medical imaging is crucial for accurate diagnosis, but traditional grayscale imaging limits the human eye’s ability to distinguish subtle variations in tissue density. Color-mapping enhances these variations, making abnormalities more discernible—especially for trainees still developing diagnostic skills. RadSimPE, a software program designed to simulate a radiology workstation, integrates perceptual training and color-mapping to improve diagnostic accuracy in medical imaging. This study evaluates student experiences with RadSimPE’s simulation and color-mapping functionalities in learning to identify pulmonary nodules.
Methods: Second and fourth-year medical students participated in a structured educational session that included perceptual training followed by interactive simulations using RadSimPE. The students were exposed to both traditional grayscale and color-mapped chest CT images. After the session, participants completed surveys to provide feedback on the effectiveness of the software simulation and perceptual training.
Results: Survey data revealed that 100% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that the combination of perceptual training and RadSimPE’s simulation was helpful in learning the skills necessary to identify pulmonary nodules. Additionally, 100% reported a positive overall experience with the training session. Furthermore, 67% agreed that the simulation was more educationally useful than a traditional didactic lecture and expressed that such simulations would be helpful for learning additional radiology topics.
Conclusion: These findings support the integration of simulation tools like RadSimPE with color-mapping in radiology education, emphasizing their potential to enhance diagnostic training through an interactive learning experience.

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

The University of Utah Medical Student Research Journal Copyright © by University of Utah Medical Student Research Journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.