MRI Safety: 10 Tips for Best Practices
As you know, medical radiation has caused injury to patients from both interventional fluoroscopy and functional CT imaging. Last summer’s Joint Commission Sentinel Alert included recommendations to protect patients from undue and unsafe exposure. As a leader in diagnostic medical physics, KGHP can help you reach these JC goals.
PREP for safer fluoroscopy
After the Food and Drug Administration issued warnings on fluoroscopy skin injuries, KGHP developed the patient radiation exposure program (PREP) to help our clients assess the risk from radiation. Today, on-going monitoring of fluoro time and skin dose is standard practice.
Much of PREP’s success lies in its education of key staff. By incorporating our PREP assessments into our annual training programs, we can minimize patient risk from fluoroscopy.
What works for fluoro can work for CT
After a number of well-publicized CT injuries, we reviewed our client’s CT protocols and adjusted technical parameters where necessary. This is only the first step; just as we do for fluoro, our on-going monitoring reviews patient CT doses, establishes dose ranges, and creates an action plan when ranges are exceeded.
Our annual training programs cover CT dose terms, and scan parameters and their effects on patient dose.
If you have not yet implemented a program, contact your KGHP physicist. We’d also welcome your thoughts on this safety issue and will be covering safety topics on a regular basis. Do you believe that tracking and monitoring procedures for fluoro apply to CT scans? When are alternative tests (ultrasound or MRI) realistic? What challenges will you face in your next inspection? Share your thoughts below.
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