From the October 2014 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Integral to this model is access restrictions. Once a subject has been successfully screened, she is allowed to pass a secured entrance. This locked door can be secured by a conventional physical key system or by an RFID card; however, combination lock systems are NOT recommended due to the frequency which combinations are often distributed.
Situational awareness – design guidelines for MR suite safety
Another essential component for physical safety is that of situational awareness. Yes, the technologist is certainly capable of moving himself around such that they can see the patient/visitor wherever they might be in the controlled access portion of the MR suite (Zone 3), but the fact is that the majority of the time the technologist will be positioned at the operator’s console. It is from this position that the technologist should be able to see the approach to the entrance to the scanner room (Zone 4), as well as any patient holding /preparation areas within Zone 3 that aren’t otherwise staffed.
The suite should be laid out such that from the console the technologist has direct line-of-sight to these critical areas. In the absence of direct sight lines, facilities should deploy closed-circuit video monitoring, or other indirect means of facilitating the technologist’s awareness of their immediate surroundings and key points of access.
Similar principles apply to the view from the console into the scanner room, itself. Unless specific conditions prevent the use of a conventional RF shielded window through which the technologist can view the inside of the scanner room, windows are preferable to the fixed view of a video camera and ‘virtual window’ video monitoring system. That isn’t to say that video monitoring can’t be used to augment direct line-of-sight monitoring of the scanner room, but rather that, from a safety standpoint, it isn’t the preferred method.
The above elements of situational awareness should be thought of as additional to the ability to observe the patient in the scanner. Occasionally MR suites are laid out in such a way that the patient table of the scanner is perpendicular to the view angle from the operator’s console. For bore format scanners this often means that the technologist cannot see the part of the patient inside the scanner, greatly diminishing his or her ability to supervise the exam and the patient’s condition (respiration, coloration, expression…).
Classifying ferromagnetic materials
Given the widely known examples of ferromagnetic objects photographed while stuck to scanners, another key element to physical safety in the suite is the appropriate use of properly tested and labeled equipment. In 2005, the American Society for Testing and Materials International released new criteria for identifying the safety of objects in and around MR scanners. This system allowed objects to be classified based on their potential risk, as summarized below.
