"Poor experience of MRI scan"

I had worked in MRI at various NHS and Private hospitals since 1996.  It was drummed into me that claustrophobic success rates improve if a relative is check listed and demetaled and taken into the scan room. It was also important to talk to the patient inside the scanner bore to keep them calm and informed about how long each scan sequence was going to take.

Not the case at Kent and Canterbury. A head scan. Headphones on but no mirror on the head coil. A device used so the patient can look out of the bore. And silence from the radiographer scanning me. Not a word. Just sequence after sequence of unknown length. No encouragement to keep still ... nothing. Isolated in the scanner bore. I can see why claustrophobic patients set the hand alarm off to get out of the scanner.

So we got to the contrast injection . The contrast is dotarem. It contains a rare earth element called gadolinium. Some patients can have allergies to dotarem. Unfortunately I do. I have had this contrast several times before. My first time it was injected very fast using a device called a pressure pump and I was still inside the bore tunnel of the scanner. The sudden rush in my head and following bad taste in my mouth and throat made me vomit in the scanner. Subsequent injections I warned the radiographer and the injection was done  by hand very slowly over a matter of several minutes. Slight bad taste but no vomit. And I have always been taught to bring the patient out of the scanner bore to inject in case the patient reacts to the contrast agent. Reactions can be mild to very severe. 

Kent and Canterbury experience.  Left inside the scanner and a slow injection - not. No mirror, so I couldn't even see who was injecting me. A cleaner for all I knew. Injected in under 30 seconds. Scan started I had to press the alarm. Head rush bad taste. They had to get me out the scanner and let me sit up. 

I'm not sure if the calibre of new MRI radiographers and their training in MRI now lacks this element of patient care and patient interaction. Talking to a patient inside the scanner bore takes seconds but has a huge calming effect on the patient and a success rate of few claustrophobic fails.