Having an MRI ( Magnetic Resonance Imaging ) scan can be a very stressful experience especially for children and some adults. Both our MRI scanners are ageing and are scheduled for replacement early next year ( Jan 2018 onwards ) and this gives us an opportunity to look at the MRI scan room environment and think about improvements we may be able to make, especially for children and adults who find MRI scans difficult. We work very closely with the RUH Play Specialists in preparing children for MRI scans and would love to be able to provide a more child friendly environment in one of our MRI scan rooms. One piece of equipment that we feel would help us do this is installing a video system so that children (& adults) can watch their favourite DVD whilst having an MRI scan. We feel that having a system such as this in the MRI scan room will reduce the number of children needing a general anaesthetic to enable them to have a scan, and also help generally for children and adults find the whole MRI experience more enjoyable.
Di Pressdee, Team Lead Radiographer for CT and MRI, said: “This extremely generous donation will be a huge benefit to our patients, especially children who are understandably nervous about having a scan.
“MRI scanners can look quite imposing and are noisy too, so by putting on their favourite DVD and listening through the dedicated headphones, patients can enjoy a film and take their mind off the scanning process. Due to the strong magnetic field of the scanner, the DVD player has to be highly specialised which makes it expensive and we would not have been able to provide this without the help of Time is Precious.
