How BCIT Prepares World-Class MRI Technologists with Corsmed
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"It's hard to give students real MRI practice because clinics are busy, scanners are limited, and we have many students. We had to find a solution to this problem."
This was the challenge that Ray Lee was grappling with during the fall of 2021.
As MRI Program Director at British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), Ray knew that students need lots of practice to learn how to perform great MRI scans. But with limited access to physical scanners, they had to open their minds to new solutions.
They found their answer in Corsmed’s MRI simulator.
Today, BCIT is widely recognized for its exceptional MRI education program—and Corsmed has become a key ingredient in their secret sauce that enables graduates to scan from Day One.
Thanks to Corsmed, BCIT has been able to:
Provide Lifelike MRI Scanning Practice, 24/7
Train Clinic-Ready Graduates Who Scan from Day One
Achieve a 100% Graduation and 100% Employment Rate
1. Provide Lifelike MRI Scanning Practice, 24/7
Corsmed provides students with their own personal MRI scanner on a laptop, where they can explore protocols, adjust parameters, and get real image feedback based on their exact inputs.
Unlike other simulators, Corsmed doesn’t rely on static image libraries. It creates new images based on your inputs, just like a real scanner. Students see the actual consequences of changing TR, TE, slice angles, and other settings—pixel by pixel.
As Ray Lee shares:
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"Our students love that Corsmed shows exactly what they've input. If you change parameters or angles, you see the actual effect on the image.
This is different from other simulators that use image libraries where you always get the same images regardless of your inputs. With Corsmed, you get exactly what you've programmed—down to the smallest pixel.”
The simulator also gives BCIT’s students unlimited practice opportunity—anytime and anywhere.
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"Corsmed gave us a simulation tool students could use both on campus and at home. It lets them practice outside clinical hours, review concepts, and prepare for competency exams. This all helps them be well-prepared for clinical work."
1.1 What BCIT's Students Say About Corsmed
For students like Kayla Nguyen, the ability to play with parameters and see real-life results helped her apply the MRI theory in practice:
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"Corsmed was a very big help before my clinical externship
When you read textbooks, it’s just maths—it doesn't ‘click’ with you how changing one parameter will affect the final image. You can’t see the physics in action.
On Corsmed, I can play with the parameters and see the image I would have gotten in seconds. It’s like having my own MRI scanner on my computer."
The visual feedback was especially useful:
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“The textbooks teach you the maths and physics, and Corsmed helps you visualize how the concepts work together so you can apply them in practice."
Perhaps most importantly, the interactive learning helped her grasp the critical imaging trade-offs that technologists must make daily:
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“Corsmed really helped me understand the trade-offs between SNR, resolution and scan time—like how changing TE or TR alters the image. Now, I know how to adjust the parameters to create good images in any situation.”
1.2 A Safe Place to Experiment and Make Mistakes
Healthcare students often feel intense pressure to get things right, especially with real patients.
Corsmed gives them a risk-free environment to make mistakes, and deliberately experiment with all sorts of ideas to see what happens. Ray Lee explains:
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"With real patients, you can't experiment just to see what happens. With Corsmed, we encourage students to ask 'What if?' and see the results. It's like a playground where they can explore and make mistakes safely."
The result? BCIT students make fewer errors with real patients.
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“When they enter clinical settings with real patients and busy workflows, they've already learned from those errors and won't repeat them."
1.3 Students Feel Engaged and a Sense of Purpose
Lifelike MRI practice not only helps students connect theory to practice—it also helps them connect their studies to the larger mission of helping real patients:
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“It helps with student engagement by giving them practical tasks. They know they're preparing for a career, not just studying theory.
Corsmed bridges the gap between classroom learning and clinical practice, giving students a sense of purpose in their lab work.”
2. Train Clinic-Ready Graduates Who Scan from Day One
Does all this lifelike MRI practice actually lead to real skill development?
Program Director Ray Lee highlights the impressive feedback from clinical sites:
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"Clinics are often surprised that our graduates are ready to scan real patients on their first day.
This success comes from our lab preparation, including the Corsmed MRI simulator, which gives students months to build practical skills they can apply in the real world."
Even students who have zero clinical experience are ready to start scanning in Week One.
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“Our 1st Discipline students are better equipped to start scanning right away. They're comfortable with various exams that might give 2nd Discipline students more trouble initially.
When students go out on their clinical externship, they are ready to scan patients in their first week.”
The students agree. Kayla Nguyen points out how Corsmed helped relieve her anxiety when entering a clinic for the first time:
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“Before clinicals, I was nervous. But Corsmed gave me a better idea of what to expect. It was a very big help before my clinical externship.”
2.1 Experience with Rare Cases
When students train in real clinics, they seldom get any practice with rarer scans—leaving a big gap in their skills.
With Corsmed, BCIT has been able to eliminate this skills gap too. Ray Lee explains:
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"Corsmed is great for rare or high-stakes cases like contrast studies or cardiac imaging. Students can practice complex procedures they may only encounter once or twice a year in real clinics. And in a real clinic, you only get one chance with each patient.
On Corsmed, you can practice the same rare case over and over again until you master it."
Even skeptics have been surprised by how well Corsmed can simulate advanced cases:
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"One of our instructors who specializes in cardiac imaging was especially impressed with Corsmed. She found it gave students excellent practice with planning cardiac sequences—above and beyond what she thought was possible in simulation."
With 24/7 access to any rare scan, students like Kayla Nguyen can fill in the missing gaps in their skill development:
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“At clinics, you don’t have certain cases coming in. I don’t think I’ve scanned any elbows or wrists at my clinical placement. With Corsmed, I can practice these rare cases too.”
2.2 A Powerful Assessment Tool for Instructors
Corsmed isn’t just useful for students.
For instructors, it’s a powerful way to assess skills, track progress, and identify gaps. Ray Lee explains:
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"Students are evaluated in 'consolidation labs' where they're formally assessed. Corsmed is an excellent assessment tool because students build protocols and sequences from scratch. It shows exactly what parameters they've entered and how they've prescribed planes, which helps us test their understanding in many areas."
Instructors even create custom modules, tailored to upcoming exams or course topics. Whether it’s a routine brain or a complex cardiac scan, they can test real-life knowledge in a simulated but realistic setting.
2.3 Vendor-Neutral Interface: Easy to Learn, Easy to Teach
One aspect of Corsmed that BCIT particularly values is its vendor-neutral approach, which aligns perfectly with how they train their students. As Ray Lee shares:
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"Corsmed is really easy to use because it uses non-vendor specific terms—it's a generic platform, which is the same language that we teach our students.
When students take their certification exam, they're not supposed to be tested on vendor-specific terminology. Siemens will have a different name for a sequence versus GE.
Corsmed uses the generic names, which is exactly what we teach in class."
Corsmed MRI Simulator – A Vendor-Neutral and Intuitive Interface
The intuitive user interface further enhances the learning experience:
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"Everything is well laid out. You don't have to sift through 3, 4, or 5 different layers to get to certain parameters you want to adjust. Everything is organized with clear tabs that make navigation simple."
3. Achieve a 100% Graduation and 100% Employment Rate
All this preparation results in BCIT having a perfect graduation and employment rate. As Ray Lee highlights:
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"Our graduation rate is 100%. Our job placement rate is also 100%.
In our 1st Discipline program, all our graduates passed their certification exams and found jobs.”
Not only do graduates find jobs. Employers frequently seek them out:
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“They get hired immediately—sometimes before they have even completed their studies."
This remarkable success is achieved in part by using Corsmed to prepare students for certification exams:
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"Students use it to prepare for certification exams, which are formal assessments where they must perform a complete scan from start to finish. This is especially helpful for complex areas like contrast abdomen or cardiac scans.
If students fail a certification exam, they use Corsmed to practice before retrying. Students are usually successful after using Corsmed to prepare, whether for first attempts or retests."
All this practice—and re-practice—pays off.
And with Corsmed, BCIT students now have unlimited MRI practice at their fingertips.
More Than a Vendor: A True Educational Partner
For institutions considering simulation technology, technical support and an improving platform are critical concerns. BCIT has been impressed with Corsmed's responsiveness:
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"We've partnered with Corsmed since 2022, before launching our 1st Discipline program. The platform has improved tremendously since then. Initially, it had few exams and lacked MRI localizers, but the Corsmed team actively sought feedback and made major improvements."
What sets Corsmed apart isn't just the product itself, but the comprehensive support ecosystem:
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"The support has been excellent—quick responses to questions and implementation of our feedback. We're happy with both the platform itself and the company's support."
Ray also praises the onboarding support that helps both instructors and students quickly become proficient with the platform:
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"The onboarding provided by Corsmed and the support we receive—whether through video tutorials or contacting their team directly—really helped our course instructor to master the simulator. He can now answer any of the students' questions about navigating the platform."
This responsive support is something CNI College, another Corsmed customer, also emphasized:
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"Every enhancement we requested, we worked like a team. The Corsmed staff were there whenever we needed them, despite the time difference between Europe and the U.S. You send one email and get a response right away."
“It’s Been Essential”, The “Obvious Tool of Choice for MRI Training”
When asked about the overall impact of implementing Corsmed's simulator, Ray Lee makes the point clear:
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"It's been essential in preparing students for clinical work. Corsmed has—100%—helped us ensure our students have the skills necessary to succeed in the real world.
It’s our obvious tool of choice for MRI training.”
BCIT's success demonstrates how Corsmed can effectively simulate a real clinical setting inside your classroom. The result is an instant feedback cycle that not only makes the studies more engaging—but also transforms students into skilled MRI professionals, ready to scan on Day One.
For other MRI education programs and healthcare facilities looking to enhance their training, the message from BCIT is clear:
Corsmed doesn't just add to classroom training—it revolutionizes it, preparing fully skilled professionals who deliver better patient outcomes.
As Ray Lee summarizes:
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“Corsmed helps our students grasp the theoretical concepts, practice the procedures, and trust their own judgment when faced with new clinical challenges.
It builds confidence that they can do this—that they’re ready to scan real patients out in the real world.”