Computed tomography is an important imaging method in health care. The number of procedures has increased, which has led to grown concern of radiation exposure of patients. The role of a professional radiographer is essential when managing radiation exposure of patients. A teacher of the degree programme in radiography and radiotherapy in Oulu University of Applied Sciences brought up the need of a self-access learning material for the course of computed tomography.

The purpose of this project was to produce an educational and interesting computer game for the students of radiography and radiotherapy about managing patient dose in computed tomography.

The content of the game was obtained by reading current and international literature. In the design phase the content of the game was scrutinized many times. Designing and execution were done simultaneously and feedback was given by radiographers who helped produce the computer game with a high-quality content. The game was tested with the help of students of radiography and radiotherapy and radiographers.

In our project an external computer programmer was responsible for the programming of the computer game. It includes multiple-choice questions and exercises of the human anatomy. The game is meant to be used together with the lectures and thus it helps students learn more in a different way. According to the feedback the game was easy to use and educational in an interesting way. The game is available to the students of radiography and radiotherapy in the learning environment Optima on the internal Internet site of the Oulu University of Applied Sciences.

The aim of the project was to make it possible for the students of radiography and radiotherapy to study independently how to manage patient doses in computed tomography and deepen their knowledge. Teachers would also get a new teaching method. Games could be designed for other modalities, such as the MRI or the fluoroscopy. A research could also be done on how useful our game really is in practice.