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run a sound MRI operation with employees well trained
in magnet safety, but have you ever thought about the
scene following a fire alarm being pulled? Imagine several
imposing, fully geared firefighters bursting through
the door unabated, wielding axes, and completely unaware
of the invisible danger generated by your MRI scanner.
Why is this important? Because there has been a proliferation
of MRI scanner sites in hospitals, commercial buildings,
off-site clinics, mobile imaging trailers, and even
unconventional sites such as shopping malls. Proactively
training external emergency response personnel is not
just a nice community service to provide, but a prudent
business investment as well.
Emergency response personnel such as firefighters,
EMS, and police generally have little MRI safety knowledge,
so they, too, are clearly at risk when responding to
an emergency call at an MRI center. Awareness of MRI
safety is the best preventive strategy for avoiding
an accident, and employees working with the scanners
are the best line of defense for ensuring that accidents
do not occur. However, increased patient safety and
avoidance of costs from an accident are significant
benefits relative to the minimal resources needed to
implement a safety program for your community’s
emergency responders.
When an MRI accident occurs, the foremost concern is
for the safety of everyone involved, and this should
be the primary motivation for engaging in proactive
safety measure. In addition to patient safety issues
and negative public perception, there may also be a
significant negative financial impact on your imaging
center. Restarting an MRI after a quench starts at $20,000
, and this does not include repair of physical damage
to the MRI scanner from projectile impact or quenching
itself, which can damage scanner parts that support
the cryogen technology. Finally, there is the compounding
effect of lost patient revenue resulting from the scanner
downtime necessary for repair efforts. Returning the
magnet to full operation after a quench, assuming there
are no damages, takes an average of two days. Take a
moment and consider how much revenue your MRI generates
in two days, and you can quickly appreciate the minimum
total financial impact of an MRI incident.
Next month, in part two, we will outline the development
of an educational program for emergency response personnel
in your community.
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