Reviewing the Process of Preparing Children for MRI

Background: MRI is a common medical imaging investigation. Patients, including young children, can be required to keep still for up to 60 min for the study to be completed successfully. Children often find the confined space, noise, need to lie still and possibility of intravenous administration of contrast agent anxiety-provoking and sometimes so distressing that they are unable to cope and require general anaesthesia.

Objective: A practice MRI intervention was introduced at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. The program is conducted by educational play therapists in conjunction with the Department of Medical Imaging. This study explored the effectiveness of this intervention.

Materials And Methods: The intervention was conducted in a practice MRI unit devoid of magnets. Data were collected as a clinical audit with respect to age, gender, times of scans, position in bore, diagnostic scans and movement artefact. Epidata and Stata were used to analyze the data.

Results: A total of 291 children were included; their ages ranged from 3 years 7 months to 17 years (mean 7.9 years), and 48.8% were male. Of the 291 children, 218 (74.9%) were considered a pass at practice, 35 (12 %) were considered borderline pass, and diagnostic images were obtained from 218 (96%) of those children who went onto a clinical MRI.

Conclusion: We conclude that practice MRI intervention facilitated by educational play therapists is a useful intervention in supporting children to cope with MRI without general anaesthesia.