But 2010 holds the promise of reversing course.
Throughout 2009, we saw tantalizing glimpses of potential MRI safety improvements, which repeatedly escaped becoming real. Here are my ‘Top 3′ near-miss opportunities of 2009 to substantially reshape MR safety…
This post attempts to draw-together two recent threads from here on the MRI Metal Detector blog. First, there was a long-running question about the FDA and their online-accessible database of medical device accidents which, for months, appeared to be malfunctioning, and recently was repaired. Second, there was my post in which I identified 5 MRI ‘Never Events’ which, if industry standard procedures are followed, should never occur.
The Athens, Alabama, News Courier ran a story December 4th on their website about a 21-month boy who received a 3rd degree burn from an MRI. This hits square in the middle of the 5 MRI ‘never events’ that were enumerated a few months ago here on this blog.
In the Tuesday, December 1st, issue of the RSNA Daily Bulletin, the ‘Tip of the Day’ was provided by the American Association of Physics in Medicine. The tip identifies specific risks of ferromagnetic tools and hardware associated with orthopedic devices, such as ‘halo’ vests…
Every year the ECRI Institute publishes their Top 10 health technology hazards, identifying the 10 most serious (and unintended) risks posed by our ever-increasing use of sophisticated medical devices to diagnose and treat patients. In November, the Institute released their 2010 watch list, which dedicated a Top 10 slot, and an entire page, to ferromagnetic projectiles in MRI.
I’m not prepared to break out into song with ‘Hakuna Matata’ (at least, not yet), but the circular nature of things in life is unmistakable: ironically, the path that my commitment to MRI safety has taken has also produced the unintended consequence of getting me ‘uninvited’ from the ACR’s MR Safety committee.
Let’s look at the circular path it took to arrive here… Click Here For The Rest Of The Story…
(This is a continuation of my recommended MRI safety vendor itinerary, starting at the North Hall, which you can read about here, Lakeside Center, which you can read about here, and the first half of the South Hall, which you can read about here.)
Our company, Mednovus, is making the annual pilgrimage to Chicago after Thanksgiving for the biggest of all radiology trade shows, the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting. In my original post I indicated why I thought MRI safety would be a ‘hot topic’ at this year’s RSNA, and gave an itinerary for the North Hall (the Philips Hall) for stops at relevant vendors, including our company, Mednovus (booth #7801). Then I followed up with an itinerary for the Lakeside Center, and just a couple days ago, I provided half of the South Hall.
Continuing on that theme, and to facilitate your review of MRI safety products and vendors, I’d like to suggest an itinerary for visiting the remaining select group of exhibitors from Exhibit Hall A, the South Hall, where the GE mega-booth is located…
Click To Read The Final Installment Of My MRI Safety Vendor Itinerary…
(This is a continuation of my recommended MRI safety vendor itinerary, starting at the North Hall, which you can read about here, and Lakeside Center, here.)
Our company, Mednovus, is making the annual pilgrimage to Chicago after Thanksgiving for the biggest of all radiology trade shows, the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting. In my original post I indicated why I thought MRI safety would be a ‘hot topic’ at this year’s RSNA, and gave an itinerary for the North Hall (the Philips Hall) for stops at relevant vendors, including our company, Mednovus (booth #7801). Then I followed up with an itinerary for the Lakeside Center.
Continuing on that theme, and to facilitate your review of MRI safety products and vendors, I’d like to suggest an itinerary for visiting a select group of exhibitors, this time in Exhibit Hall A, the South Hall, where the GE mega-booth is located…
For a couple of months, at least, the FDA’s MAUDE database wasn’t displaying all of the accident narratives online… This appears to have been fixed!
A number of the MRI accident reports, when the narratives weren’t appearing, were little more than the name and mailing address of the MRI manufacturer. Today, if you want to read about the MR Technologist who had a pair of scissors magnetically-impelled into his forehead, you can do so. So Click Here If You’re Curious…
“Tweet, tweet” is usually all I hear from little birdies… but one little bird that flew past my office recently had a surprisingly large vocabulary and told me of new requirements that will be introduced in the forthcoming 2010 update to the ‘Guidelines for Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities’ (commonly referred to as ‘Guidelines’).
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Guidelines, they are the design requirements that are cited by the Joint Commission and, at last count, 42 of the 50 U.S. State Departments of Health. Technically, they aren’t a building code, but the function in almost the exact same way. For the first time, the Guidelines are going to have specific MRI suite design requirements for patient safety.
2010 Guidelines
Click Here To Read About The Specific MRI Safety Design Requirements…