Is “Safe” Safe Enough for MRI?

Here at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta we are committed to MRI safety. We have a strict safety policy. All of our Safety Zones are clearly labeled. Only certain trained and screened employees have card access to the MRI core area Safety Zones 3 and 4.

To start, all patients, parents and visitors are screened with a thorough written screening form. This form is then reviewed and signed by 2 witnesses (usually a RN and a technologist). Every patient is changed into a hospital gown. All personal items are then locked in lockers. This is done in MRI Safety Zone 2.

After this is completed, they are allowed into our locked and controlled access core area. This is our Safety Zone 3. Here all patients, parents and visitors are wanded using use the Safescan, a ferrous metal detector. We also wand any comfort item the children want to bring into the room. They are then verbally screened again by the technologist. Only after these steps have been completed are they allowed into the scan room Safety Zone 4.

We keep a permanent record of all hospital employees written screening forms. These are kept readily available to be checked by the technologist any time a non-MRI employee needs to enter Safety Zone 3 or 4. They are wanded each and every time they enter Safety Zone 3.

We also have a MRI physicist who is our MRI Safety Officer. He is onsite and readily available for questions. We have quarterly MRI Safety meetings with the entire MRI staff. Lists of all staff that have access to Zone 3 & 4 are reviewed quarterly to ensure unauthorized people do not have access. So is "Safe" Safer Enough? In our estimation "No" it is never enough.