Our MRI department is filled with lots of hardworking and caring staff here at Cincinnati Children’s. We all work together to care for you and your child. As you may well know, our MRI department utilizes the resources of other departments, not just Radiology.
Our MRI technologists are the MRI core staff members of the department. Their role is not only to take great quality pictures of your child, but also to make sure that the safety of your child’s visit is their number one priority. They ensure you have filled out an MRI safety screening sheet, which lets us know if you have any implanted devices or have had any medical procedures that we may need to look into further before letting you enter into the MRI scan room. In addition, they will have you lock up any personal items not allowed to enter the scan room in a locker (which we will provide for you). After making sure your child is safe, the technologist will help get you all set up in the room before taking the diagnostic pictures.
Our anesthesia nurses not only work in MRI but also assist in other areas of radiology (such as CT and Nuclear Medicine). They help to get your child ready for the exam if they need a little help from some sleeping medicine. The nursing staff will be there to answer any of your questions as well as look into all medical history prior to the anesthesiologist coming in to see your child. During the MR,I the nurse will stay with you and your child and help him to wake up in our recovery room, making sure he is safe before returning home. Our Patient Care Assistants (PCAs) will also be there to aid you. They will normally retrieve you from the waiting room to the department and will be there when your child wakes up to make her as comfortable as possible.
An anesthesiologist (or two) is another large part of our team. Like our anesthesia nursing staff, they too help all over the radiology department, not just in MRI. The anesthesiologist, along with a CRNA (certified registered nurse anesthetist), will be in the department to administer the anesthetic if it is needed to acquire the pictures.
Here at Cincinnati Children’s we are very lucky to have childlife specialists as a part of our team. They are amazing individuals who bring lots of fun things for your child to play with, as well as make it easier to get great pictures by explaining the MRI process and what to expect throughout the exam. They also help to get your child through tough steps that are important to our picture capturing.
Our patient care advocates (PCAs) can help to answer any questions you may have in the waiting area. They will also help with other appointments you might have or updates on your wait times before and during your child’s exam.
MRI coordinators are behind the scenes and schedule all our inpatient and some of our outpatient exams. They also help to take calls and troubleshoot some of our MRI exams that need to be scheduled. You may even get a call from them providing your child’s exam information or letting you know if something needs to be changed.
Even though we may have several different departments in our area, we all work very hard to get your child’s exams done safely, comfortably, and efficiently.
Contributed by Laura Hanselman (SPEC-MR QUALITY) and edited by Tony Dandino, (RT-MR).
