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Imaging Procedures – 3 Tips on Conducting Efficient MRI Scans

Nov 30, 2020 | Tech Tips, MRI

Any procedure in a healthcare facility will take time, expertise, and resources to perform. Since not all patients have the luxury of receiving any lab test or operation immediately, it’s necessary to make an optimized workplace to avoid interruptions or delays.

MRI scans are necessary to receive critical information from a patient’s condition. Unfortunately, it requires plenty of preparation beforehand before a technician can proceed with it. These small delays can add up and prevent physicians from diagnosing time-sensitive cases. For this reason, healthcare facilities must know how to create an orderly environment when handling MRI scans.

 

The cost of delaying MRI scans

MRI scans themselves take plenty of time to do. A patient can take anything between half an hour to well beyond 60 minutes, depending on their doctor’s recommendation. Although this already seems like a lengthy procedure, there’s also an additional 6-8 hour inspection that technologists need to prepare to ensure that patients are safe to undergo an MRI. This lost time in screening patients will cause a longer queue for patients to receive it and continually delay patients from receiving treatment.

If you want to optimize your MRI scanning preparations, here are three tips you should follow:

 

1. Identify significant delays

The difficulty of finding the root cause of delays in your patient screen will vary from one establishment to another. This is why it’s necessary to assess your healthcare facility’s current processes and find any holes or bottlenecks. Looking for the areas that cause delays in determining a patient’s viability for MRI screening can help you implement the right adjustments to your current procedures.

 

2. Clarify ambiguous policies

It’s better to have access to their previous medical records to confirm their claims. Nevertheless, you still need to push through with your screening if you can’t reach their previous physicians. One way to speed up your pre-screening assessment is to be clear with your patient.

Generally, confusion and miscommunication are the causes of delays with patient treatment. This is why it’s necessary to clarify with patients what makes them eligible for a scan.

For example, it’s best to use examples when defining implants or devices. Since some transplants can disrupt MRI imaging, it’s necessary to be precise with your wording on confirming your patients’ responses.

 

3. Employ the use of decision support tools

Besides streamlining your manual screening protocols, you can also use technological advancements to clear up your debriefing with your patients. Using digital tools to communicate with your patients will be an excellent way to bridge the gap between providing the necessary information they need and medical procedures.

MagnetVisionâ„¢ is an app developed by Emmanuel Kanal, M.D. of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. It provides different information about how magnetic fields, like the ones an MRI will emit, can interact with implants and devices. It can help physicians teach their patients about how an MRI scan will go and what materials can hinder its imaging processes.

 

Conclusion

The procedure it takes to qualify a patient for an MRI scan is necessary to ensure their safety. However, being too cautious can cause major delays in receiving treatment. Since MRI machines aren’t plentiful even in well-equipped hospitals, it’s crucial to be mindful about the time you end up using. Optimizing your pre-scanning process will allow more patients to use the machine and encourage more immediate responses and treatments to solve their conditions.

Ensuring that your MRI scanner is working properly is an essential part of maintaining your patient’s trust. DirectMed Parts is a US-based repair company that provides a wide range of imaging equipment models for healthcare institutions. If your MRI equipment is due for an electronic MRI coil repair or system upgrades, contact us today!

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