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Using ambient audiovisual experiences to reduce the need for sedation in claustrophobic MRI patients
1Radiography Department, Allied Health Division, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore.
Introduction:
Claustrophobia is a major cause of discontinued magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedures and the use of sedation for MRIs incurs significant costs to both the hospital and the patient. This service evaluation assesses the effectiveness of an audiovisual ambient experience (AE) system in reducing the need for sedation for claustrophobic MRI patients in a hospital.
Methods:
This is a service evaluation that was conducted in two phases: 1. A comparison was made of the claustrophobia-related MRI discontinuation rates among five outpatient scanners (one AE scanner and four non-AE scanners) over a two-year period, 2022 to 2023, to determine the impact of AE on MRI discontinuation rates in the hospital. 2. An observation was done on 30 claustrophobic patients in the hospital who had previously discontinued their MRIs in non-AE scanners and subsequently required sedation for their scans. They were provided with the AE scanner in attempt to save them the use of sedation and the success rate was recorded.
Results:
1. The claustrophobia-related MRI discontinuation rate of the AE scanner was significantly lower than the combined discontinuation rate of the other four non-AE scanners (p < 0.001). 2. Out of 30 MRI sedation patients, 28 succeeded in completing their scans without sedation in the AE scanner, presenting a 93.3 % reduction in sedation use for this group.
Conclusion:
An ambient audiovisual experience system showed effectiveness in reducing the use of sedation for claustrophobic MRI patients in the hospital.
Implications For Practice:
Future larger scale, multi-centre studies are needed to validate our experience, and to determine if this approach can benefit all MRI service providers in general.
Insights
An audiovisual ambient experience (AE) system significantly reduced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) discontinuation rates for claustrophobic patients. This system also decreased the need for sedation in 93.3% of patients who previously required it for MRI scans.
Area of Science:
- Medical Imaging
- Patient Experience
- Clinical Service Evaluation
Background:
- Claustrophobia frequently leads to MRI procedure discontinuation.
- Sedation for MRI scans incurs substantial costs for hospitals and patients.
- Audiovisual ambient experience (AE) systems offer a potential solution.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of an AE system in reducing MRI discontinuations due to claustrophobia.
- To assess the impact of AE on the necessity of sedation for claustrophobic patients undergoing MRI.
- To analyze cost-saving implications by reducing sedation use.
Main Methods:
- Service evaluation comparing MRI discontinuation rates between AE and non-AE scanners over two years (2022-2023).
- Observational study of 30 claustrophobic patients previously requiring sedation, assessing their success rate using the AE scanner without sedation.
Main Results:
- The AE scanner demonstrated significantly lower claustrophobia-related MRI discontinuation rates compared to non-AE scanners (p < 0.001).
- 28 out of 30 patients (93.3%) successfully completed their MRI scans without sedation using the AE system.
- A significant reduction in sedation use was observed for claustrophobic patients.
Conclusions:
- Audiovisual ambient experience systems are effective in mitigating claustrophobia during MRI scans.
- AE systems can substantially reduce the need for sedation in claustrophobic MRI patients.
- Further multi-center studies are recommended to validate these findings and assess broader applicability.
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