1. An Innovative Method for Incorporating Radiology Images into the Medical School Curriculum
Neil Kalra, David Pinelle, Brent Burbridge, Greg Malin
College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan

2. The Challenge

3. The Challenge
Undergraduate medical students at the University of Saskatchewan have limited experience viewing and learning to interpret radiology images
Limited classroom exposure.
5-6 radiology lectures in MED I/MED II
No access to interactive and self-directed learning resources

4. The Challenge
Medical Imaging recently deployed a digital teaching file server that runs MIRC software
One possible solution
Use MIRC as an image source for pre-clinical training
Incorporate images into the campus-wide BlackBoard learning management system
Unfortunately, it was unclear how to:
Link two servers, scale images, present images to students, allow students to interact with images, structure content to support classroom objectives

5. Solution

6. Solution University of Saskatchewan Radiology Courseware (USRC)
Reformats content stored in Medical Imaging Resource Center (MIRC) teaching cases for BlackBoard Learn
Allows imported MIRC content to be organized to support the teaching objectives of the course
Inserts an image viewer plug-in that allows users to interact with the images, annotations, and captions in the case
Can be used to reformat MIRC cases for presentation in any learning management system or website

7. Solution Student’s computer Radiology server BlackBoard Learn server
University of Saskatchewan Radiology Courseware. The web application supports communication between the MIRC teaching file server and BlackBoard Learn. Radiology cases are reformatted for display in web browsers running on students’ computers.
Radiology server
running MIRC
Student’s computer
BlackBoard Learn server

8. Solution
Case in MIRC and BlackBoard Learn. Left: MIRC case covering normal anatomy of the abdomen and containing explanatory text and an annotated CT series. Right. The same case displayed in BlackBoard Learn using USRC technology. The CT series is shown using the image viewer and the text is reformatted and displayed at the bottom of the screen.

9. Content

10. Content
USRC is being used in Form and Function, a first-year medical school course, at the University of Saskatchewan
Custom content was developed to support the gross anatomy component of the course
5 modules covering 5 anatomical regions
Normal anatomy
Common pathologies
Interactive content
Evaluation tools were developed

13. Preliminary Results

14. Preliminary Results
Online survey of Form and Function students who have used University of Saskatchewan Radiology Courseware
N = 49

15. Preliminary Results
Online survey of Form and Function students who have used University of Saskatchewan Radiology Courseware
N = 49

16. Acknowledgements
SaskTel and the RUH Foundation for providing funding for this project.
Dr. David Pinelle, Dr. Brent Burbridge, Dr. Greg Malin, Dr. Paul Babyn