Innovative ideas can come from thinking outside the box. But in this case, thinking inside the box brought forward a first in Atlantic Canada innovation that will help more patients receive the MRI scan they are waiting for.
A new, relocatable MRI will soon be welcoming patients inside a container-like environment that is bright, modern, technologically advanced, and designed with the patient experience top of mind.
As part of its $100 million We Are campaign to transform health care at and through the QEII Health Science Centre, the QEII Foundation is raising $4 million to fully fund the relocatable MRI.
As the name suggests, the relocatable MRI can be moved throughout the province where the greatest need exists or where service gaps have been identified. Its first home is at the Bayers Lake Community Outpatient Centre, a strategic location chosen in the health zone with the greatest waitlist.
This is an exciting, innovative project that exemplifies the QEII Foundation’s passion to fund transformative solutions to healthcare challenges,” shares Susan Mullin, president and CEO of the QEII Foundation. “Donors want to be part of the solution and are inspired by ideas that not only advance care but are innovative in approach. Our partners at Nova Scotia Health, Varian, and Siemens are thought leaders in this space and we are thrilled to be bringing a first in Atlantic Canada solution to patients who need it most.
It’s no secret that our province is challenged with its MRI wait times. Patients are waiting too long for certain MRIs.
MRI is a type of diagnostic test that can create detailed images of nearly every structure and organ in the body, including bones, muscles, and vessels. MRI uses a magnetic field and radio waves to create critical images that can be used to help diagnose cancer, soft tissue and bone injuries, and diseases of the spine, heart, and brain. It’s a crucial scan for many patients.
Creating a self-contained MRI diagnostic suite that is positioned outside of the traditional hospital walls is a creative solution to adding more MRI capacity without the restrictions of finding available, suitable space inside the walls of existing buildings”, explains Dr. James Clarke, chief of diagnostic imaging at Nova Scotia Health.
The technology contained in the new suite is some of the most advanced currently available. With its advanced methods, the length of time of some scans are drastically reduced, which increases daily capacity.
For example, some scans that are currently taking 20 minutes will only take 12 minutes in the relocatable MRI. Every patient scanned, regardless of where they are in the province, has an overall impact on the wait list.
Another unique approach to the delivery of the care within the relocatable MRI includes the option for remote scanning support, which allows for expert QEII technologists to support the scans from afar. The patient will always be with a trained technologist in the relocatable MRI, but the remote scanning support model allows that staff member to tap into additional expertise when needed. This will be the first time in Canada that this ‘test and try’ approach will be implemented and evaluated.
The relocatable MRI will start seeing patients by the end of July 2024. It is anticipated that the relocatable MRI will perform approximately 4,800 scans per year.