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…
Posts Tagged ‘AHRA’
RT-Image’s August 3 Issue on MRI Safety
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009AHRA – Attendance Down (a bit), Interest Up (a lot).
Thursday, August 13th, 2009Concerned 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…
AHRA 09 – You’re Cordially Invited To 2½ Special Events
Sunday, July 12th, 2009As 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.
MRI Safety at AHRA Fall Meeting
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008Last month, I was honored to have been given the opportunity to present to one of the national American Healthcare Radiology Administrators (AHRA) meetings. In October I gave a presentation on the current state of MRI Safety, including regulatory, legal and accreditation changes that are all in the works.
The full presentation was 90 minutes, including an extensive audience Q&A, but I’ve pulled out one particular section that is particularly relevant to our topic at hand, ferromagnetic detection for MRI pre-screening.
The video excerpt below addresses forthcoming changes to the ‘Guidelines for Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities’, a poly-cyllabic mouthful that roughly translated means the healthcare building code, and changes regarding MRI suite design…
Tobias Gilk on MRI Building Codes at 2008 AHRA Fall Meeting [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Tobias Gilk on MRI Building Codes at 2008 AHRA Fall Meeting [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadAs mentioned in the video above, the proposed changes to the healthcare building code are currently open for public review and comment. The proposed language includes references to the ACR 4-zone principles as well as planning for ferromagnetic detection.
If you would like to see, review or even comment upon the proposed changes to the hospital and healthcare provider building code, public comment for the ‘Guidelines’ is open until December 15th, 2008.
Tobias Gilk, President & MRI Safety Director Mednovus, Inc. Tobias.Gilk@Mednovus.com www.MEDNOVUS.comVideo Excerpt From Dr. Kanal’s AHRA MR Safety Presentation
Wednesday, August 20th, 2008As mentioned in an earlier post, noted MR safety guru Dr. Emanuel Kanal gave a brilliant presentation at the 2008 annual meeting of the American Healthcare Radiology Administrators (AHRA). While his session, “MR Safety Update, 2008″ addressed several different MR safety issues, below is a video excerpt, which marries the audio recording with his presentation slides, showing information on ferromagnetic detection that Dr. Kanal presented.
Excerpt from Dr. Emanuel Kanal "MR Safety Update 2008" at AHRA [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Excerpt from Dr. Emanuel Kanal "MR Safety Update 2008" at AHRA [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadAmong the ACR Guidance Document on Safe MR Practices: 2007, the recent Joint Commission Sentinel Event Alert #38 on MRI Accidents and Injuries, and other standards and expert recommendations, it is abundantly clear that ferromagnetic detection is a potent part of an effective MR screening program.
A PDF transcript of the above video is available for download at http://MRImetaldetector.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Transcript_of_Dr_Kanal_Edited_video.pdf.
Tobias Gilk, President & MRI Safety Director Mednovus, Inc. Tobias.Gilk@Mednovus.com www.MEDNOVUS.comDr. Emanuel Kanal Recommends Ferromagnetic Detection
Saturday, August 9th, 2008If you ever get a chance to hear Dr. Kanal speak, GO! Apart from being Director of MR Services for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, a Fellow of both the ISMRM and the ACR, Chair of the ACR’s MR Safety Committee and one of the world’s experts in instruction for the mind-boggling complexity of MR physics, you’ll also find him to be one of the most animated, enthusiastic and downright approachable speakers, ever.
That’s precisely what about 100 – 200 Radiology Administrators at the AHRA Annual Meeting, held just a couple weeks ago in Denver, found out in Dr. Kanal’s MRI Safety Update presentation.
His talk whisked through a number of topics in the brief hour that he had, but one of the chief subjects of his presentation was his enthusiastic support for the use of ferromagnetic detection (FMD) systems as a quality assurance step to assure patient compliance.
At his direction, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) has purchased 20 Mednovus SAFESCAN® hand-held Target Scanners™, which are in use throughout the UPMC system. Dr. Kanal’s MRI suite is also the ‘proving grounds’ for ferromagnetic detectors from different vendors and he highlighted the use of the Mednovus Entry Sentinel® GS walk-through portal, which is currently being used in a trial to verify screening compliance.
In the coming days and weeks, I hope to share with you specific excerpts from Dr. Kanal’s presentation to the AHRA annual meeting. Suffice it to say that the world’s foremost authority on the breadth of MRI safety issues is a firm believer that MRI-projectile accidents are among the most common source of MRI-related injury – and that ferromagnetic detection can be a remarkably effective tool to help minimize these most frequent safety lapses.
Stay tuned for more information from Dr. Kanal’s presentation, coming soon.
Tobias Gilk, President & MRI Safety Director Mednovus, Inc. Tobias.Gilk@Mednovus.com www.MEDNOVUS.com