Clinical Engineers Feedback, Perspective Help MedSun Better Understand Medical Device Issues in Hospitals

摘要

Although magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is a safe imaging procedure, there are contributing safety hazards inherent to the MR environment. Magnetic attractive forces to the strong MR imaging magnet can cause objects to become projectiles. Although rare, when these events occur, they often cause serious injury or death. Most projectile incidents may be attributed to site-access issues where staff brought in ferrous devices or products or screening methods that did not reveal the metal that was present on the patients, for example, jewelry and belts. Actions to reduce this hazard include conventional patient screening practices, site-access restrictions and markings, and facility-wide education. Additional actions to reduce these events may include broader use of ferromagnetic detectors to identify ferromagnetic objects not discovered by conventional screening methods or guarding the scan room entryway. This survey was an effort to learn about user facilities' MR safety practices, particularly why and how the facility uses ferromagnetic detectors.