Developing patient-centred MRI safety culture: a quality improvement report.

Despite having a detailed MRI-safety questionnaire check at the point of referral, we have encountered a significant number of near-misses with patients being identified with MRI-Unsafe devices at the time of appointments, making this an important safety hazard. A two-part survey was performed to assess referrer compliance of asking MRI-questionnaires. 120 outpatients across 3 MRI sites were interviewed at the time of appointment to confirm whether their referrers completed the MRI questionnaires with them at the time of referral.Location:Department of Radiology, Ninewells Hospital, Perth Royal Infirmary and Stracathro Hospital in Scotland. Only 50-55 % of patients confirmed that they were asked about presence of a pacemaker at the point of referral. Less than 50 % of patients reported being asked about other potential hazards.Suggested strategies for change: (1) Risk Alert-Sent to all MRI referrers in the organization. ( 2) Changes to MRI Safety Questionnaire. (3) Feedback mechanism to referrers-NHS trust website publications on number of recorded near-misses and wasted appointments due to MRI-safety issues. (4) Compulsory education/training of future referrers (junior doctors/allied health professionals). (5) Education of patients/public on MRI safety-Displaying patient information leaflets/posters in waiting areas of the hospital.Key measures for improvement: (1) Reduction in number of recorded near-misses. (2) System improvements, referrer and patient education, reduction of wasted MRI appointments and improvement of waiting-times for MRI appointments

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© 2019 The Authors. Published by the British Institute of Radiology.