A friend of mine recently posted something on LinkedIn with the opening line that MRI is not safe. Boy did that stir up some discussion about MRI safety and risk! I offer that preamble for two reasons… First, I shouldn’t be recognized as the first person who has said this. Second, conversations prompted by my […]
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MRI Safety Podcasts
2023 is shaping up to be the year of MRI Safety podcasts!
So far I’ve been interviewed for five separate podcasts in the past year, and I’ll try and share links to each one to you, below…Continue reading
How To QC MRI Safety Standards
Accreditation is required to assure safety In the United States, either enterprise or modality accreditation is required for eligibility for reimbursement for services provided to Medicare, Medicaid, or Tricare federal beneficiaries. As a result, it is estimated that over 90% of all MRI providing hospitals and imaging centers in the US hold accreditations that cover […]
Continue readingMRI Safety and MRI Remote Operation
Our founder, Tobias Gilk, penned two articles on MRI system remote operation (HERE, from 2020 and HERE from 2022). The first one essentially said ‘MRI system remote operation is coming, and we’re not ready for it (MRI safety-wise).’ The second one says ‘it’s here, and we’re still not ready for it (MRI safety-wise).’ In a […]
Continue readingCongratulations, JPS, on Leapfrog “A” In Patient Safety
It’s a rather remarkable turn-around story… For those who don’t know there’s a patient-safety organization, called The Leapfrog Group, that grades hospitals on their patient safety. Six years ago, in 2015, the JPS hospital (a county-owned hospital in Ft. Worth, TX) received a “D” grade on patient safety. This year, in 2021, the same hospital […]
Continue readingMRI Safety Committee Administration
One of the challenges with new standards is that your site may have to scramble to adapt. If the new standard requires, for example, an MRI Safety Committee with quarterly meetings, and your site doesn’t have available / willing staff to take on this additional burden, you’re dead-in-the-water, right? Not necessarily. Since (the radiology equivalent […]
Continue readingMRI Safety Lecturing
Gilk Radiology Consultants’ (GRC) founder, Tobias Gilk, is an internationally-acclaimed speaker on MRI safety subjects. He has presented at MRI manufacturers’ user group meetings, at international society meetings, conferences and trade shows, and at sponsored symposia. From 20-minute webinars, to ‘grand rounds’ presentations, to multi-day in-person seminars, Mr. Gilk has developed a reputation for delivering […]
Continue reading2021: The Year of MRI Safety
While the idea of MRI safety should be a priority every year, 2021 provides us with a special opportunity to reflect. As mentioned in a previous post, 2021 is the twentieth anniversary of the most infamous MRI accident in the United States: the death of young Michael Colombini. On this twentieth anniversary it’s appropriate to […]
Continue readingMRI Root-Cause Analysis (Twentieth Anniversary of Colombini Accident)
In order to recognize MRI safety weaknesses at any given site, you have to study how MRI accidents and injuries occur. Anybody with a printout of accreditation standards can be a mock-surveyor and run through a checklist, but does that person know if the checklist really represents MRI safety risks, or just check-boxes? This year, […]
Continue readingThe MRI Accident Chart (2000 – 2020)
This is the chart that we think depicts the recent state of MRI safety by looking at MRI accident rates. The data -or, more specifically, the direct deduction that it supports- makes some people downright hostile because it directly refutes the pervasive MRI public relations campaign… “MRI is the safe modality.” To be clear, MRI […]
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