MRI-Safety Week Is Upon Us.

By Robert Junk, AIA, AHRA and Tobias Gilk

Two weeks from the date of the mailing of this issue of the MRI Newsletter, we will be in the middle of the first ever MRI-Safety Week. In fact, two weeks from today will mark the day on which, five years earlier, the most infamous MRI fatality occurred at Westchester Medical Center in New York. If you haven’t already done so, we encourage you to join with colleagues from around the world and take the week of July 23rd as your opportunity to reflect on your MRI safety successes and analyze your procedures, practices and environment to find out what you could improve upon.

Among the interesting and entertaining ideas that have been developed by MRI facilities around the world to promote MRI safety during the week are:

• Safety posters (each for patients and for healthcare workers)
• Videos to be played in information kiosks and hospital cafeterias
• Color-coded floor plans demonstrating ACR 4-zone compliance
• Examples of safe and unsafe items in the MR environment
• MR safety trivia / prize games
• Staff questionnaires
• Writing articles for local newspapers

These are all in addition to the multitude of ideas and recommendations which are available on the MRI-Safety Week website.

We can’t express how thrilled we are at how universally embraced the informational component of MRI-Safety Week has become. We hope that facilities are also using the occasion of this awareness campaign to reflect on potential gaps in safety for patients and staff. Please visit the website for ideas on how to identify and correct clinical, operational and physical safety deficiencies which might be relevant to your facility.

And while MRI-Safety Week is scheduled to mark the 5-year anniversary of the tragic accident in which the 6-year-old boy died, it is worth noting that accidents in which patients and staff are injured continue to happen with alarming frequency. This incident, unfortunately, is not an anomaly. The circumstances which led to the young boy’s death are recreated regularly in MRI facilities around the world and it is largely a factor of chance that another death hasn’t yet resulted. 

So if you haven’t already, please consider what you can do at your facility (or for your clients) to recognize and reinforce the message of this event. There is still time to prepare for a rewarding and valuable MRI-Safety Week.

You're reading the MRI Newsletter, which means you're plugged-in to the industry's leading source for information on MRI suite safety and design. Contact Robert Junk, AIA or Tobias Gilk for information on how we can help you develop your next MRI project.