Learning from a Distance

 

With Teresa Bruno's instruction, medical dosimetry students in Fort Worth receive the same high quality training as their Houston classmates via teleconferencing.

 

 

Through distance learning technology, Teresa Bruno is able to teach students in two allied health disciplines simultaneously in Houston and Fort Worth.

 

The pilot project, which started last fiscal year, involved students in the radiation therapy and medical dosimetry programs offered by M. D. Anderson. Dr. Michael J. Ahearn, associate vice president for academic affairs, says the project was so successful that other allied health training and continuing education programs likely will be added.

 

Bruno, who directs allied health education for the Division of Radiation Oncology, says 12 radiation therapy and four medical dosimetry students completed the 500-hour didactic portion of the two courses during the 1996-97 academic year. Eleven of the 16 attended classes at M. D. Anderson in Houston and five were at M. D. Anderson-Moncrief Cancer Center in Fort Worth.

 

Students in both cities were linked through M. D. Anderson's teleconference facility, which routinely is used for physicians to discuss patient issues in multiple cities.

 

"They all did very well. We didn't see any disadvantage to teaching the didactic material via interactive video technology, which opens up new avenues for allied health training with our affiliated health care partners," Bruno says.

 

M. D. Anderson also conducts widely recognized allied health programs in such special areas as histotechnology, cytotechnology and medical technology. Graduates of all allied health programs are highly sought by institutions across Texas and beyond.

 

"It is exciting that students and future technologists at treatment centers affiliated with M. D. Anderson can receive the same high quality training as their Houston classmates without having to leave their home communities," Dr. Ahearn says.

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