FORCE – Framework for Online Radiographer Clinical Education

The overall aim of the FORCE project is to develop a virtual learning environment where Radiography undergraduates across Europe can engage in interactive, problem based development of radiographic knowledge, ability and professional awareness.

Project objectives

1. Establishing a virtual learning environment accessible initially across partner organisations, and subsequently as an open resource.

2. Developing comprehensive patient stories to capture the personal and medical history of each patient.

3. Delivering a variety of interactive tools through which students can negotiate the learning material in the virtual learning environment, including: an online Radiology Information System and Image Archive (RIS-PACS) populated with a virtual patient database; a web based 2D virtual reality (VR) simulation of a diagnostic X-ray room; a web based simulation of a therapy planning suite; a series of databases from which dose calculations and audit can be performed; a series of video recordings; and miscellaneous adjunct resources that will add depth to the data concerning patient information and their experience. In essence the VLE will present students with a simulation of an imaging and therapy “department”, with patients to be examined and problems to be solved.