10 MRI Safety Steps Create Efficient & Realistic Appointment Lengths

Motivation: Consistent performance of MRI safety steps is critical when calculating MRI appointment length. The MRI healthcare environment experiences daily demands for improved patient throughput while appointment durations and resources decrease. The motivation to create an efficient MRI patient experience SAFELY was born. Goal(s): To measure actual time required to orient a patient and perform mandatory safety steps for patient care in MRI. Approach: Reviewed, observed and recorded time to perform 10 MR safety steps with multiple MR technologists and at multiple outpatient clinical settings. Results: Established successful baseline to be integrated into appointment length formulas that factors in efficiency, MR safety and reality. Impact: Accurate appointment times must include completion of critical MR safety steps. Adequate time to complete is essential even when medical centers desire efficiency improvement. This outline may be used by facilities to formulate realistic appointment times that include MR safety.