How to reduce MRI sedation, anesthesia, claustrophobia & anxiety – & have your Caring MR Suite® pay its own way in less than 2 years

Dressed up in your favorite color; mood lighting and music perfectly tuned; and breathtaking nature scapes shine just for you. At first glance, the Caring MR Suite may look like just a (very) pretty MRI suite – or as some patients say, a day at the spa.

“We had one patient so impressed with (our Caring MR Suite) that she asked if she could get a massage, her hair done, and a manicure too! Another patient was like ‘Wow! I’m in heaven!’  This past weekend I had a non-English speaking patient who couldn’t tolerate the 1.5T that we have, so I tried (our new 3T Caring MR Suite) and she went from refusing MRI to smiling when she came out. It was great!”

Sebie – Advocate Christ Medical Center Technologist

Yet beneath the Caring MR Suite’s beautiful exterior lies a wealth of research to support your efforts to not only improve your patient MRI experience, but also reduce costly MRI sedation, anesthesia, failed scans and re-scans.

Pediatric Caring MR Suite® with MRI In-Bore Viewing Portable Video Display featuring custom Scrolling Text messages to reduce MRI sedation and anesthesia

Here, learn 8 science-backed ways the Caring MR Suite works to provide your patients with the best possible MRI experience.

MRI anxiety is no small matter. As noted in our previous post, a recent Siemens study found 42% of patients report being fearful of MRI and 1 in 7 patients have cancelled an MRI due to fear.

Additionally a recent Harborview study puts the potential cost of patient motion (and needed re-scans) at $115,000 per MRI scanner, per year – and this doesn’t take into account sedation and anesthesia.

According to the July 2010 issue of Radiology, an MRI scan with anesthesia can cost up to 10 times as much as an MRI scan without anesthesia. Sedation can increase MRI scan costs by more than 300%. Moreover, this JACR study finds anesthesia to be on the rise within the pediatric population. Yet, despite fear, costs and risks, for many MRI patients, like Thomas, MRI scans are vital to their health care.

For years, we’ve been encouraged by Caring MR Suite techs and owners who have shared qualitative success stories similar to Sebie’s above and Nichol’s and Jake’s below.

Reduce MRI sedation with Caring MR Suite and in-bore viewing

“The PDC suite is a real hit! Our patients love the option of music and love the viewing display. We used to send away/reschedule an average 4-6 claustrophobic patients a week. In the month we have been live in our new unit we have only rescheduled one patient  to come back with medication. I believe the PDC suite is a big reason for that turnaround.”

Jake – Franklin Community Health Network MRI Technologist

Our own collaborative MRI Patient Experience Study even found 94% of patients reported an “Excellent” MRI experience and 25/25 high anxiety patients reported they would “Highly Recommend” this MRI experience.

Caring MR Suite survey reports excellent patient MRI experience

However, until recently we did not have quantitative data to demonstrate the Caring MR Suite affect on MRI sedation, anesthesia cases, claustrophobia, productivity and ROI – and the results are more encouraging than we could have hoped for.

Here, learn how one Caring MR Suite helped reduce anesthesia cases by nearly 60% and paid for itself in just over a year.

Caring MR Suite® with MRI In-Bore Viewing Video Display, MRI LED RGB Lighting + 4K Video Display for personalized patient experience and to reduce MRI sedation and anesthesia

See MRI Case Study here

What best tips have you found to reduce MRI sedation and improve the MRI experience? Any tips to improve MRI patient experience?

We are always looking to improve our Caring MR Suite patient experience and would love to hear from you on Facebook, LinkedIn or by email.

Want to get inside a Caring Suite? Check out our new Virtual Tour!