HCM 5020 Module 5 Final Project Part 1 Example

Nothing Metal Past the Door: Planning MRI Safety Training for the Staff Who Bring Patients to the Scanner

Student Name

Master of Science in Healthcare Management, Thomas Edison State University

HCM-5020: Healthcare Administrator Leadership

Mentor Name

Month Day, Year

Nothing Metal Past the Door: Planning MRI Safety Training for the Staff Who Bring Patients to the Scanner

The final project for this course asks the healthcare leader to act as an educator: to choose a topic on which staff need training, define who will be trained, prepare objectives and discussion questions and begin the research that will support the session. Leading imaging at an invented 260-bed New Jersey hospital, I have chosen MRI safety for staff outside the imaging department. Part One, presented here, explains why this topic matters, analyzes the audience, sets out learning objectives and discussion questions and summarizes the first sources I will use. Part Two will turn this plan into a presentation of at least ten slides with speaker notes, plus a single-page handout.

Why This Topic

An MRI scanner's magnet is always on, even when no scan is running. Its field can pull ferromagnetic objects such as oxygen cylinders, scissors, pulse oximeter clips or a wheelchair into the bore with enough force to injure or kill anyone in the way, and it can heat, move or disable implanted devices. Most imaging departments control these risks through screening, physical barriers and zones of restricted access. The staff most likely to breach those controls, however, are not technologists. They are the nurses who escort inpatients, the transporters who bring stretchers, the rapid response and code team members who rush in when a patient deteriorates in the scanner, and the security officers who respond to alarms or help with agitated patients.

At our hospital, the imaging department logged nine MRI near misses in the past year involving non-imaging staff: four oxygen cylinders stopped at the Zone III door, two patients arriving with incomplete screening forms, two staff members entering Zone IV with pagers or badges with metal clips, and one rapid response team that began to wheel a standard crash cart toward the scanner room during a deteriorating patient's scan. None caused harm, but each could have. Annual safety training for these groups currently consists of a slide in the general orientation module.

Target Audience

The primary audience is about 180 staff in four groups: inpatient and emergency nurses who escort patients to MRI, especially on evening and night shifts when imaging staff are fewer; patient transporters; members of the rapid response and code teams; and security officers. They differ in background. Nurses have clinical knowledge of implants and devices but little exposure to the MRI suite. Transporters and security officers have limited clinical training but are often first through the door with equipment. Code team members are trained to act quickly, which in the MRI suite can be the wrong instinct.

As adults with heavy workloads, these learners will engage most with training that addresses situations they recognize, explains the reason behind each rule and lets them practice decisions rather than listen to a lecture. Sessions will be 30 minutes, offered on all shifts, and held in the MRI suite itself so that learners can see the zones and the doors. A secondary audience is unit managers, who will need a short briefing so they can reinforce the training.

Learning Objectives

Each objective below names something a participant should be able to do when the 30 minutes are over, with the evidence that will show it.

Discussion Questions

The session will open and close with discussion to draw out what participants already know and what worries them. Opening questions: What metal do you carry on a typical shift without thinking about it? Have you ever been stopped at the MRI door, and what happened? Questions during the session: If a patient on your unit has a device and the paperwork is unclear, who decides whether the MRI can proceed? Why would a code team move the patient out of the scanner room instead of bringing the cart in? Closing questions: On a busy night, what gets in the way of these rules, and what would remove it? What change on your unit would prevent the near misses we discussed?

Preliminary Research

Kanal et al. (2013). The American College of Radiology's guidance on MR safe practices sets out the widely used framework of four safety zones, defines the roles of trained MR personnel and non-MR personnel, and describes screening of patients and staff before entry. It will supply the core rules and terms for the session, including the requirement that non-MR personnel be accompanied in restricted zones and that resuscitation take place outside the magnet room.

Goolsarran et al. (2019). At a large academic medical center, near misses related to MRI screening, especially missed pacemakers and other implants, were common because screening relied on a single step. Using repeated Plan, Do, Study, Act cycles, the team introduced a multistep screening process and reduced near misses from 22 to none in the year after implementation. This study supports treating near misses as learning events and will shape the session's emphasis on screening as a shared, multistep responsibility.

Alkhulaifat et al. (2025). Writing from pediatric radiology, the authors argue that MRI safety depends on culture as much as on rules, including screening, physical barriers, zoning, emergency response and how adverse events are handled. They emphasize a just culture that favors transparency and process improvement over punishment. This source will guide how I discuss near misses with participants: as system signals rather than individual failures, so that staff feel safe reporting them.

Plan for Part Two

Part Two will build a presentation of 12 slides following the objectives above, with speaker notes for each slide that contain what I would say in the session, including the near-miss examples and the scenario questions. The handout will be a single page with the four zones, the list of prohibited objects, the screening steps and the deteriorating-patient response, designed to be posted on units as well as taken home. I will also plan a brief knowledge check before and after the session to measure what participants learned.

References

Alkhulaifat, D., Vidal, L., Larsen, E., Serai, S. D., Sinti-Ycochea, M., Mecca, P., Orfe, L., & Sotardi, S. (2025). MRI safety: Developing the right culture. Pediatric Radiology, 55(5), 895-901. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-025-06179-5

Goolsarran, N., Martinez, J., & Garcia, C. (2019). Using near-miss events to improve MRI safety in a large academic centre. BMJ Open Quality, 8(2), Article e000593. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2018-000593

Kanal, E., Barkovich, A. J., Bell, C., Borgstede, J. P., Bradley, W. G., Froelich, J. W., Gimbel, J. R., Gosbee, J. W., Kuhni-Kaminski, E., Larson, P. A., Lester, J. W., Nyenhuis, J., Schaefer, D. J., Sebek, E. A., Weinreb, J., Wilkoff, B. L., Woods, T. O., Lucey, L., & Hernandez, D. (2013). ACR guidance document on MR safe practices: 2013. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 37(3), 501-530. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmri.24011