Archive for the ‘Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety’ Category
Friday, October 2nd, 2009
…off the MRI magnet!”
Yes, that’s right, a recent news story from the NBC television affiliate station in Jacksonville, Florida, provides an account of how an off-duty police officer’s pistol wound up stuck to their MRI scanner, and cost the provider something in the neighborhood of $150,000 to remove!
Click For A Link To The Original Story…
Tags: accident, Florida, gun, imaging, Jacksonville, magnetic, MRI, news, pistol, radiology, resnonance, safety, screen, Technologist, television, TV
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety, Other MRI Safety | 1 Comment »
Friday, September 18th, 2009
For those unfamiliar with the term, a ‘never event’ is a label used to describe an adverse event that is wholly avoidable by simply following established best practices. For example, if you have an accurate count of the surgical instruments before and after surgery, there should never be an event where the patient leaves the OR with a sponge or clamp sewn up inside of them. A retained surgical instrument, or wrong-site surgery, or bed-sores, or patient mis-identification, or medication errors are all examples of ‘never events’.
Some insurance payers are beginning to refuse reimbursement for care that is necessitated by certain ‘never events’, and that list is likely to grow. And while they may not always result in patient injury, I’d like to propose my own list of 5 MRI ‘never events’ which should at least trigger an investigation…
Click To Read The 5 MRI Never Events…
Tags: access control, accident, burn, contraindicated, deposition, device, Gadolinium, GFR, implant, injury, kidney, magnetic, medical, missile, MRI, near-miss, never event, NSF, payer, projectile, renal, resonance, RF, SAR, screening, translational, zones
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety, Other MRI Safety | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009
That’s right, while I’m typically an ‘early adopter’ of new technologies, I readily admit to being well behind the curve on this one… or at least I used to be. As of this week I am ‘Tweeting.’ No, I’m not referring to that dance-beat sound coming from your cold-head, I’m referring to Twitter, the social networking site, and I’d like you to join me! You see, not only am I up there now, but I’m also building a network for information and advocacy on MRI safety issues.
Click To Get To Tobias’ Twitter Page And Learn About Safety Resources…
Tags: accident, magnetic, MRI, radiology, resonance, safety, Tweet, Twitter
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety, Other MRI Safety | No Comments »
Sunday, August 23rd, 2009
Last month, the judge in the Michael Colombini lawsuit (the case resulting from the infamous death by oxygen tank / cylinder brought into the MRI room while the boy was in the scanner) decided on three of the last outstanding pre-trial motions. The Judge’s decisions appear to have excused one defendant, entirely, and tempered the degree of potential liability for others.
Click Here To Learn Who’s In, And Who’s Out…
Tags: colombini, court, death, fatality, ferromagnetic, injury, lawsuit, legal, liability, magnet, magnetic resonance, metal, missile, MRI, New York, patient, projectile, radiologist, radiology, risk, safety, suit, Technologist, trial, Westchester
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety, Other MRI Safety | 10 Comments »
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
RT-Image brought a stack of their August 3rd issue to the AHRA and handed them out at the MRI safety presentation. Why (apart from general publicity)? Because the primary thrust of the issue was on many aspects of MRI safety. This issue has feature articles on the new MR Conditional pacemaker, infection control in the MRI suite, and even one that I wrote for them…
Click Here For A Link To Tobias’ Article For RT-Image…
Tags: accident, AHRA, article, hazard, imaging, injury, liability, magnetic, magnetic resonance, MAUDE, MR, MRI, patient, radiology, risk, RT-Image, safety
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety, Other MRI Safety | No Comments »
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
Concerned about a dramatic drop in attendance, the AHRA annual meeting in Las Vegas was rescued from the brink of dissapointing participation by a swell of last-minute and onsite registrations. Overall, the attendance numbers were flat from last year, but the level of interest in MR safety issues was way up! I noticed three separate areas where this was demonstrated…
Click Here To Read The Three Ways…
Tags: ACR, AHRA, annual meeting, attendance, ferromagnetic, Mednovus, MRI, presentation, resonance, safety
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety | No Comments »
Sunday, July 12th, 2009
As if you needed a personal invitation from me, here it is nonetheless. Please join me (and a several thousand of your colleagues) at the American Hot Rod Association [ahem] American Healthcare Radiology Administrators annual meeting in August. And though it may not really be my place to invite you to the conference, I do want to extend to you a personal invitation to 2½ special events that will happen during that week.
Click Here To Learn About Your Special 2½ Invitations…
Tags: accident, accreditation, ACR, Administration, AHRA, alert, American Healthcare Radiology Administrators, best practice, booth, Environment of Care, Gilk, healthcare, injury, JCAHO, Joint Commission, lawsuit, legal, liability, Mednovus, MRI, presentation, radiology, regulation, risk, safety, standard of care, trade show
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety, Other MRI Safety | No Comments »
Saturday, June 6th, 2009
When I was eight, these words struck fear in my heart. It didn’t matter how small the infraction I committed was (or if there even was an infraction to begin with), I would beg the other kid to not ‘tell’ whoever it was that they were planning to tell. It may have been their kindly grandmother that they planned on telling, but in my mind it was always some 7-foot troll who would have undoubtedly come outside and chewed me to bits.
It took a while, but slowly I realized that tellin‘ and getting in trouble were two, very different things. This is a lesson that we in the MRI community would do well to learn regarding accidents.
Click Here To Learn More About Tellin’ And MRI Accidents…
Tags: accident, accreditation, authority, death, event, FDA, injury, magnetic, MAUDE, MDR, MRI, near-event, near-miss, patient, Pennsylvania, photo, picture, pre-screen, projectile, regulation, regulatory, report, resonance, safety, screening
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety, Other MRI Safety | No Comments »
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
One of the most oft-cited rationalizations for not complying with contemporary best practices that call for using ferromagnetic detection (FMD) for MRI pre-screening is that ‘FMD doesn’t catch anything that existing screening protocols aren’t meant to catch.’ What you may find surprising about this statement is that I agree with it wholeheartedly… I would just change the inflection a bit. I would say it more like…
Ferromagnetic detection doesn’t catch anything that existing screening protocols aren’t meant to catch.
That inflection makes a world of difference, as you’ll see in just a moment…
Click These Words Here To See What I Mean…
Tags: accident, care, detection, detector, fatality, ferromagnetic, hazard, injury, magnet, magnetic resonance, metal, missile, MR, MRI, patient, photo, picture, projectile, risk, safety, screening, standard, Technologist, translational, video
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety | 4 Comments »
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
In a word, ‘Yes,’ but not by the conventional ways that imaging providers are accustomed to...
Would using ferromagnetic detection (FMD), to add a new and effective layer of pre-MRI screening, be reimbursed? What I mean is, is there a CPT code to get paid back for providing this additional service?
No, but the lack of a CPT code has little to do with the fact that using FMD can contribute, directly, to an MRI provider’s bottom-line. In fact, there are two concrete ways, off of the top of my head, that I know have provided financial ‘payback’ to users of ferromagnetic detection systems.
Click Here To Learn How FMD Pays Back…
Tags: accident, cost, CPT, detection, detector, ferromagnetic, ferrous, investment, magnet, magnetic, metal, MRI, projectile, reimbursement, revenue, risk, ROI, safety, screening
Posted in Ferromagnetic Detection for MRI Safety | 1 Comment »
