Effective MRI Suites
Total Process Management.

By Tobias Gilk

Life is full of trade-offs. We build ourselves into situations where things we want become mutually exclusive. This phenomenon occurs in our professional world as much as it does in the rest of our life. Today, financial pressures are compelling diagnostic imaging facilities to maximize referrals and squeeze more patients into a given month, and at the same time the ACR comes out with new guidance on MRI safety that probably demand unanticipated changes if a facility is to comply. Which do you choose, (a) throughput or (b) safety? What if your options included a third option, (c) both?

The truth is that far too much has been made of the argument that safety features slow patient throughput or impede operations. Yes, when a single safety feature is retroactively applied to a suite as a band-aid panacea, it will cause friction and will undermine the effectiveness of the feature. This happens when safety, or any attribute, is viewed as a product and not an integral part of the operational process of a suite.

In the end, the financial and safety goals of a MRI suite aren’t in conflict as they’re often made out to be. A smoothly running suite can streamline patient screening and exam preparation, providing a safer and more expedient patient visit. It all depends on what your goals are and how well you work to meet them. While the process for setting and meeting these goals holds true for ‘re-engineering’ existing processes, it may be more clearly illustrated when viewed through the example of designing a new facility.

For all building projects there are two sets of goals, those communicated (“Grand opening in 6 months.” “Within budget.” or “Attractive”) and more complex or personal ones that are frequently kept private (“A place I want to be proud to be associated with.” “Where we can take the best care of our patients.” or “The only place I’d want my family members to be referred.”).  We all recognize that the design of a facility can be measured against whether the communicated goals are met, but what many may not realize is that the design of the building can also have a profound impact on whether the unspoken goals are met, too.

There are copy-and-paste solutions to a myriad of the simpler goals, but the more qualitative results require a greater level of exploration of what you want to achieve. This additional exploration is made nearly impossible when the objectives aren’t effectively communicated. When communicated to experienced planners, even the most illusive goals may be better realized in the use of a well-planned facility.

What it boils down to is this; you can have your cake and eat it too. You can have throughput, plus safety, plus an attractive facility, plus whatever, as long as (1) you identify the issues that you want to have addressed in the layout of your facility and (2) your invest in the resolution of those issues.

It’s about defining your own ‘best practice’ operation and identifying the physical components that make that happen. For facilities that haven’t contemplated how they’d ideally like to operate, questions of how many screening rooms or where the locked doors ought to be seem disassociated from overall performance and become points of personal opinion instead of components of a global solution.

Too often new facilities are designed and evaluated solely based on lowest-common-denominators such as cost, square footage and schedule. For a equipment as complex as MRI or CT and a process as dynamic as the delivery of healthcare, do these quantifiable figures really tell us anything about how well suited a space is to the care that is to be provided?

For existing facilities willing to take a fresh look at their operations in light of changing regulatory and financial conditions, the challenges require comparable levels of attention to the often-unspoken objectives.

In both cases (new and existing facilities) it requires a degree of expertise to go beyond the easily quantified and address the issues of quality in operations and facilities. However, once priorities have been set and the ‘best practices’ shaped for your unique needs, introducing a new issue, such as safety or regulatory compliance, becomes a minor tweak as opposed to trying to force a square peg in a round hole.

Next month, in part II of this article, we will explore a checklist of process, practice and procedures items that, in today’s competitive environment, should be bedrock elements of any imaging provider’s operations. Join us for the May issue and begin to look at the qualitative elements of your imaging services and how you can make them more better for your staff, patients and your bottom line!

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.