Conducting virtual radiopharmacy experiments
The VIRRAD project developed an easily accessible virtual environment for the nuclear medicine community for learning, exchanging views and discussing best practices. Within this context special emphasis was given to radiopharmacy, a sub-specialisation of nuclear medicine. Offering an intelligent environment for distance learning with suitable courseware, the project aims at providing advanced courses for this specialist community. One of the key project results included an interactive on-line simulated radiopharmacy laboratory, the VirRAD 3D Lab. The virtual laboratory supports all activities of a real laboratory offering interaction, not only to the provided equipment, but also to other participants. Users shown as 3D avatars employ radiopharmacy equipment to carry out specific learning scenarios. Resembling real laboratory characters, the avatars are displayed with gestures and functions such as perception, localisation, identification and visualisation of actions. This innovation comes in a standalone mode for performing special radiopharmacy scenarios, a multi-user mode where users meet mentors and/or other learners, and a learner modelling mode for studying. The user-friendly interface makes the virtual laboratory easy to use with help menus and warning messages in case of incorrect actions. The facility has already received a growing acceptance for further use from a wide range of academic institutions not only in Europe, but also in Canada. Apart from its incorporation into radiopharmaceutical courseware in nuclear medicine programmes, the concept of virtual environment may also be employed in other educational areas for on-site training. For further information, click at: http://www.virrad.eu.org/(opens in new window)
