MRI scanners for neurosurgery suite - Assignment Example

Root causes of the Problems on Safety. MRI accidents are 100% preventable (MRI safety video) and the key root cause of any problems is human fallibility. Assuming that the MRI facility is designed and run according to best practice guidelines, staff training is the single most effective way of addressing safety issues. The deficits that staff training aims to address are the following:1. A lack of knowledge about the potential risks associated with the equipment. [Proposed response: general training for all staff, plus specific training for different groups of staff.

Responsibility: corporate training team]2. Absent or incomplete rules and protocols for activities in the vicinity of the equipment [Proposed response: research into best practice elsewhere and design of new rules, protocols, signage, and incident reporting scheme. Responsibility: Health and safety team to produce revised documentation, corporate training team to assist line managers in their introduction]3. Failure to adhere to above-mentioned rules and protocols in the vicinity of the equipment.

[Proposed response: monitoring targets to be built into job specifications and appraisal scheme for management staff. Regular briefing sessions for all staff. Responsibility: corporate training team]Detailed education plan for employees working in the MRI suite. Senior management staff developmentThe Medical Director to be funded to attend a conference on MRI safety and risk management and required to produce a report to senior management team on lessons applicable to the local context.Orientation and safety session for all staff.

All staff to attend one mandatory orientation and safety session (two hours). This session to be delivered on 8 or more occasions, at different times of the day and different days of the week, until every staff member has completed it. Safety video to be viewed. Handbooks issued, and self-test to be set as homework following the session. Exercise with scenarios and case studies based on real and potential incidents, such as a near miss accident involving portable equipment. Main message of the session: “human error and communication lapse are by far the most important hazard in the MRI suite.

” (Zimmer et al., 2004).Timescale for completion: six weeks.Thereafter this session to be offered as part of orientation program for all staff new to the MRI working area. Surgical and specialist workshopSurgical Teams and MRI staff to attend this workshop (half day) Program: Half hour presentation by Medical Director (based on report on local context issues)One hour brainstorming in two teams to identify best practice on eliminating risk of specific injuries. Dislodged ferromagnetic implants : Surgical team Burns : Surgical team Failure to attend to patient support systems : Surgical team Acoustic noise : MRI staffMRI contrast agents : MRI staff Missile effect/projectile : MRI staffBreakTeam one (Surgical team) presents best practice ideasTeam two (MRI staff) presents best practice ideasCorporate training team closes session.

ReferencesMRI Safety Video. Available online at: http://www.mrisafetyvideo.net/Shellock, F.G. and Crues, John V. III. (2002) MR Safety and the American College of Radiology White Paper. American Journal of Roentgenology 178, 1349-1352. Available online at: http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/content/full/178/6/1349Shellock, F.G and Spinazzi, A. (2008) MRI Safety Update 2008: Part 2, Screening Patients for MRI. American Journal of Roentgenology. 191, 1140-1149. Available online at: http://www.ajronline.

org/cgi/content/full/191/4/1140Zimmer, C. et al. (2004) Near-miss Accident during Magnetic Resonance Imaging by a “Flying Sevuflurane Vaporizer” due to Ferromagnetism Undetectable by Handheld Magnet.