Call To Action For MRI Safety:
Help Us Make MRI-Safety Week A Reality!

By Robert Junk, AIA, AHRA and Tobias Gilk

Join the MRI Newsletter in promoting a grassroots "MRI-Safety Week" for the week of July 23rd to July 29th this year. To our knowledge, there has been no similar recognition and we felt that this year, in particular, deserved to have a focus on patient and staff safety in the MRI environment. Why that week in July? Why this year in particular?

On July 27th, 2001, a young boy died in a tragic MRI accident in New York when a portable oxygen cylinder was brought into the magnet room while he was still inside the bore. The magnet attracted the cylinder which struck and killed the boy. This accident became the touchstone for MR safety and this year marks the 5-year anniversary of the event.

Unfortunately, apart from being a touchstone, the event has done less than we might have expected for improving the culture of safety in MRI. Though, clinically, MRI is extrordinarily safe, indications are that MRI accidents are increasing in frequency. The ACR White Paper on MR Safety is one of very few bright spots in the culture of MRI patient safety, though it is only a de facto standard as it has no enforcement.

Instead we're asking you to join us in a special push, promoting those aspects of MRI safety that are relevant to you and your business, during that week of July 23rd. If paid marketing isn't an option for you, we ask that you look at what press releases or other public relations relevant to MRI patient safety you can share with either professional trade media or mass media outlets for that week.

When it comes to MRI patient safety, "a rising tide lifts all boats." If, collectively, we can raise the general level of awareness about MRI safety, this will benefit patients and providers for years to come. In the long run, this will also benefit those organizations that provide products, services and information supporting MRI safety.

Below are a list of prospective topics that might be helpful to consider for your marketing or public relations efforts. We recommend that you plainly explain the link between your MRI safety initiatives and either the anniversary of the Colombini tragedy in which the young boy died, or the overall "MRI-Safety Week" effort. The hypothetical examples below will hopefully inspire you to develop your own promotional effort which will support the drive to further MRI patient safety.

• New MRI suite renovation incorporates the latest in patient safety
• New product identifies steel tanks, like the one wich killed a six-year-old boy, before they can harm MRI patients
• Company unveils new line of products which conform to new ASTM / FDA standards for MRI safety
• New medical device allows implant patients to get vital MRI scans
• How our facility protects the safety of our MRI patients
• Specialty line of products designed to stay out of MRI scanners and improve patient safety
• Feature on individual charged with comapny's MRI safety guidelines

Your participation can dramatically enhance the awareness that can come from our "MRI-Safety Week" and we invite you to join us. Please give this invitation your full consideration because your efforts, coupled with those of the MRI community, can improve the safety of all MRI patients. This will truly be an effort where the result will be far greater than the sum of its parts, but we need your personal participation to make it happen.

Thank you for your support for the 2006 MRI-Safety Week! Please contact us if we can facilitate safety in your MRI suite and help you promote your safety efforts.

Join in the chorus, calling for improved safety and reduced accidents in the MRI suite. Contact Robert Junk, AIA or Tobias Gilk for information on how to maximize the benefits of your participation in MRI Safety Week.