 Welcome (again) to the new format of the MRI Newsletter. . We're proud to have such a diverse group join us, including hospitals, outpatient imaging centers, radiology groups, architects and vendors.This month we're featuring extremely useful pieces on the benefits and barriers to using existing MRI suites as interventional tools, and considerations for mobile imaging and how it can give facilities tremendous flexibility in patient care options. We're also featuring a very important article on emergency preparedness for MRI facilities.
Within the next couple of months subscribers will be able to access all previous issues of the MRI Newsletter. We are currently working on getting our archive in place and have (for the moment) removed the full-text version of earlier articles from the public areas of the website.
A few of our previous articles can be found reprinted online on AuntMinnie or in the pages of Radiology Today and Medical Dealer magazines. Many other topics raised in previous issues of this newsletter have found additional coverage in articles in Diagnostic Imaging, Radiology Today and the SCAN Newsletter.
Because we want each of you to get all of the benefits of the newsletter, we hope that each of you receiving the complimentary newsletter join (click the subscribe button at the top of the next column) to gain full access to all the articles in each issue.
Tobias Gilk
Junk Architects, PC
Invite Your Friends & Colleagues.
We are always pleased to share the newsletter with your friends. If you would like to invite a colleague to receive the complimentary version of the MRI Newsletter, please let us know and we will extend an invitation to them on your behalf.
Click here to refer a friend
A $200,000 Floor Polisher After returning from a full day of safety presentations to the staff of a regional hospital, we came home to e-mail alerting us to an accident that happened a few weeks ago at a hospital in Seattle. A housekeeping floor polisher got drawn into an MRI and caused over $200,000 in damage.These sorts of accidents are hardly rare. In fact, you can see photos of several nearly identical accidents on one of our favorite websites www.simplyphysics.com. What make this story different is that the hospital involved has quantified just how expensive these mistakes are! That, and the fact that the local CBS affiliate reported the accident on their newscast, which was later picked up by the AP wire service.
Click here to see a streaming video of the newscast segment.
If you question whether the layout, design and construction of your facility makes you a likely candidate for a similar 'News at 11:00' feature, perhaps you should have a MRI Suite Safety Audit completed.
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Interventional MRI
By Robert Junk, AIA and Tobias Gilk In a world where imaging centers are struggling to differentiate themselves in rapidly-maturing markets, would you turn away from perhaps the single greatest opportunity to stand out for providing superior services? Asked that way, We'd be surprised if anyone actually said “No,” but that's exactly what imaging centers are doing every day.Click here to be taken to the full article.
Imaging Trailer Docks:
Making Mobile MRIs Work For You.
By Tobias Gilk
Mobile imaging trailers have a reputation... one that they would like to shake. In some circles, mobile trailers have as much pinache as trailer homes have to well-to-do suburbanites. From this perspective, they're proof of insufficient patient volumes or revenue. In short, they're not viewed favorably. So why is it that some of the most forward-thinking and well-funded healthcare facilities on the drawing boards today are planning docking stations for mobile imaging trailers?
Click here to be taken to the full article.
MRI Emergency Preparedness:
Scenarios To Think About
By Tobias Gilk
When I was a starving graduate student, I drove a sun-bleached and beat-up Renault Fuego nicknamed 'Elmo.' It ran very well for years, carrying me to and from campus... as long as I didn't drive on rainy nights. You see, the weak electrical system couldn't support both the headlights and wipers simultaneously. If I tried, the car would dim and die on the shoulder. The car was perfectly safe, as long as you drove it only during daylight hours or on fair nights. Unfortunately, this model of fair-weather safety has also served as a template for many MRI facilities...
Click here to be taken to the full article.
Articles In The Works
Over the coming year we will be sharing articles with you on a number of topics, from tools that are immediately applicable, to strategies that will help your facility on into the future. Several planned upcoming articles include:
- D.I. In The O.R.: Intraoperative Imaging
- Safety vs. Bottom Line: Why Safety Pays
- What It Takes To Implement The 4-Zone Principle
- Square Pegs - Round Holes: Retrofitting An MRI
- Hitting The Ceiling Over HIPAA-Required Walls
- Construction Near the MRI: Potential Impacts
We Love Hearing From You!
Feel free to contact us with any questions or comments on the articles or issues you'd like to see covered.
Junk Architects, PC
802 Broadway - 5th Floor
Kansas City, MO 64105
816-472-7722
MR_Expert@JunkArchitects.com
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