The Joint Commission is urging hospitals, clinics and imaging centers to pay due attention to preventing accidents and injuries during MRI scans.

More than 10 million MRI scans are performed each year in the United States and that majority cause no harm. Nevertheless the dangers of magnet proximity and RF exposure, well known to DOTmed users, are important to reinforce.

Some highly publicized serious accidents have been caused when common objects enter the scanner's magnetic field.

The Joint Commission's Sentinel Event Alert brings the reality of risks associated with MRIs to the attention of healthcare providers and offers practical solutions to avoiding injuries or deaths.

According to the Alert, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received nearly 400 reports of MRI-related accidents over the past decade. More than 70 percent of accidents were burns, while 10 percent of injuries occurred when metal objects such as ink pens, cleaning equipment and oxygen canisters have become "missiles" when pulled into the magnetic field of the scanner.

To reduce the risk of MRI injuries to patients, The Joint Commission's Sentinel Event Alert newsletter recommends that health care organizations take the following steps:

-- Restrict access to all MRI sites by creating safe zones recommended by the American College of Radiology (ACR);

-- Use trained screeners to perform double checks of patients for items such as metal objects, implanted or other devices, drug delivery patches and tattoos;

-- Ensure that the MRI technologist has the patient's complete and accurate medical history to ensure that the patient can be safely scanned;

-- Have a specially trained staff person accompany any patients, visitors and staff into the MRI suite at all times;

-- Annually educate all medical and ancillary staff who may accompany patients into the MRI suite about the risk of accidents;

-- Take precautions to prevent patient burns during scanning;

-- Only use fire extinguishers, oxygen tanks and other equipment that have been tested and approved for use during MRI scans (equipment that will not be attracted to the magnet);

-- Manage critically ill patients who require monitoring and life-sustaining drugs to assure that their care needs are continuously met while in the MRI suite;

-- Provide all MRI patients with ear plugs to diminish the loud "knocking" noise emanating from the equipment; and

-- Never run a cardio-pulmonary arrest code or resuscitate a patient in the MRI room.

For more details, go to http://www.jointcommission.org.

For more patient safety solutions, visit the Joint Commission International Center for Patient Safety's free, online database of practices and interventions to prevent adverse events at http://www.jcipatientsafety.org.

Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of health care accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in health care organizations. The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits more than 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States, including more than 8,000 hospitals and home care organizations, and more than 6,300 other health care organizations that provide long term care, assisted living, behavioral health care, laboratory and ambulatory care services. The Joint Commission also accredits health plans, integrated delivery networks, and other managed care entities. In addition, The Joint Commission provides certification of disease-specific care programs, primary stroke centers, and health care staffing services. An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Learn more about The Joint Commission at http://www.jcipatientsafety.org.