Supporting patients through MRI scans
MRI radiographer Sharon Coyle has been leading a video project to reassure anxious patients ahead of scans. Here she explains its impact
Supporting patients through MRI scans
MRI radiographer Sharon Coyle has been leading a video project to reassure anxious patients ahead of scans. Here she explains its impact
Traditionally MRI scans are not pleasant experiences for patients.
Being placed head or feet first into a tube, surrounded by loud noise, and having to keep as still as possible for what could be a significant amount of time is not an attractive prospect for any patient.
But those who are anxious or claustrophobic, these factors are even more pronounced and can be a significant barrier to a successful scan.
Sharon Coyle, MRI radiographer at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, became more aware of innovations to helps patients around five years ago, as the trust updated the equipment in the radiology department.
Traditionally MRI scans are not pleasant experiences for patients.
Being placed head or feet first into a tube, surrounded by loud noise, and having to keep as still as possible for what could be a significant amount of time is not an attractive prospect for any patient.
But those who are anxious or claustrophobic, these factors are even more pronounced and can be a significant barrier to a successful scan.
Sharon Coyle, MRI radiographer at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, became more aware of innovations to helps patients around five years ago, as the trust updated the equipment in the radiology department.
Changing world of MRI
With all-new equipment replacing existing end-of-life MRI scanners, Sharon’s hospital, Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex, was able to offer a much-improved experience for patients - from bigger scan rooms, a wide bore on the MRI scanner, improved ambient lighting and even a screen inside the scan room that can show calming scenes.
“Our world of MRI changed massively with what we could provide for patients,” said Sharon.
“But we kept seeing people arriving for their scans so nervous and anxiety-driven, which even with the new equipment, were huge barriers to the scan being successful.”
“And so I realised we needed to let people know what we have, because people had these preconceptions about what the scanners were like.”
Fixing preconceptions
Sharon said patients would arrive with pre-existing ideas about what an MRI would look like, often influenced by what they had seen on TV, of cramped and dark scanners.
Some patients had been unable to sleep the night before a scan, anxious about the experience.
So Sharon began to formulate an idea to help reset perceptions of MRI scanners, help reassure patients and, hopefully, improve the number of successful scans.
Sharon came up with the idea of making a short film, focused around MRI scans for children, that would help familiarise young patients with the department, the machine, and even some of the people they would meet during their scan.
In 2020, Sharon began the process of pulling together the first film, writing the script herself, enlisting her daughter as an actor, as well as MRI colleagues and working with the head of the medical photography department Jackie Kelly, who filmed and edited the project.
The result is a five-minute and 30 seconds-long video, which aims to explain the step-by-step process that a child will go through when visiting the hospital for an MRI scan.
Sharon and her team filmed the video on one Saturday, and the project didn’t cost the trust any money - just “time and enthusiasm,” Sharon said.
Making an impact
“It’s made such a difference,” she added.
“We now scan many more children without the need for being medicated with sedative drugs or even a general anaesthetic. This reduces anaesthetic risks for patients, as well as freeing up slots on the anaesthetic lists which have limited space, and reducing the overall wait for patients.
“We signpost young children to watch the video with their parents or guardians before coming, and quite often they’ll come in holding their comfort teddy, they’ll recognise someone from the video, and the picture screen. They’ll know about it already. It’s lovely.”
The video was shared on the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust Youtube channel in October 2020, and has since garnered more than 240,000 views.
Sharon said she has received lots of positive feedback about the video, and that colleagues working at other sites have also encouraged their patients to watch it.
Making an impact
“It’s made such a difference,” she added.
“We now scan many more children without the need for being medicated with sedative drugs or even a general anaesthetic. This reduces anaesthetic risks for patients, as well as freeing up space on the anaesthetic lists which have limited space, and reducing the overall wait for patients.
“We signpost young children to watch the video with their parents or guardians before coming, and quite often they’ll come in holding their comfort teddy, they’ll recognise someone from the video, and the picture screen. They’ll know about it already. It’s lovely.”
The video was shared on the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust Youtube channel in October 2020, and has since garnered more than 240,000 views.
Sharon said she has received lots of positive feedback about the video, and that colleagues working at other sites have also encouraged their patients to watch it.
Wider reach
Following the success, Sharon and the radiology team also started to show the video to claustrophobic patients: “It made me realise that because it was written for very small children, it was a very basic walkthrough, and I wanted to do something else for the wider community.
“I started with the idea of creating something for our more challenging patients that come through the door, those with additional needs, learning disabilities, autism, dementia.
“They are the kind of patients perceived to not be able to have an MRI, but there’s things we can do to be successful, and it's definitely more successful than it used to be.”
This is what motived her to begin on a second project.
A longer process
Sharon’s second video, ‘Common worries of an MRI explained,’ involved a much longer process, around two years, as Sharon undertook a lot of research around autism and dementia.
As part of the research, Sharon read academic papers and articles on MRI and claustrophobia, and MRI and autism, engaged with the trust’s learning disabilities lead and liaised with the local learning disability charity Mencap group, to receive feedback from the people affected. From this, the concept of the second video emerged.
Jackie from the medical photography department said she was happy to help with filming again, and members of the Mencap group also volunteered as actors for the video.
“I approached it by isolating individual worries that people have about different elements of MRI,” Sharon said.
“Because everybody’s different, it reaches a larger population of people, which I hope is everybody actually. Anyone can have problems with bright lights in hospital rooms, noises and the volume of the noise, and the space.
“The next video I wrote covering each worry and explaining how we can help people with each of those worries.”
The worries covered are: what to expect, being alone in the scan room, sensitivity with lights, sensitivity with noises, being able to keep still, and the possibility of needles and injections.
The second video, which is just over eight minutes-long, was posted on YouTube on 13 November 2023, and has attracted 1,200 page views. Sharon marked the release by hosting a mini-premiere of the film, inviting departmental managers and the people who were involved to view it on a big screen.
Sharon also gave volunteers a trophy and a certificate for their hard work.
The recent release of the second video is just starting to make a positive impact.
“Clinicians and families are only just starting to realise our capabilities for people with additional needs,” Sharon said, “and we are already receiving good feedback and becoming more successful.”
A longer process
Sharon’s second video, ‘Common worries of an MRI explained,’ involved a much longer process, around two years, as Sharon undertook a lot of research around autism and dementia.
As part of the research, Sharon read academic papers and articles on MRI and claustrophobia, and MRI and autism, engaged with the trust’s learning disabilities lead and liaised with the local learning disability charity Mencap group, to receive feedback from the people affected. From this, the concept of the second video emerged.
Jackie from the medical photography department said she was happy to help with filming again, and members of the Mencap group also volunteered as actors for the video.
“I approached it by isolating individual worries that people have about different elements of MRI,” Sharon said.
“Because everybody’s different, it reaches a larger population of people, which I hope is everybody actually. Anyone can have problems with bright lights in hospital rooms, noises and the volume of the noise, and the space.
“The next video I wrote covering each worry and explaining how we can help people with each of those worries.”
The worries covered are: what to expect, being alone in the scan room, sensitivity with lights, sensitivity with noises, being able to keep still, and the possibility of needles and injections.
The second video, which is just over eight minutes-long, was posted on YouTube on 13 November 2023, and has attracted 1,200 page views. Sharon marked the release by hosting a mini-premiere of the film, inviting departmental managers and the people who were involved to view it on a big screen.
Sharon also gave volunteers a trophy and a certificate for their hard work.
The recent release of the second video is just starting to make a positive impact.
“Clinicians and families are only just starting to realise our capabilities for people with additional needs,” Sharon said, “and we are already receiving good feedback and becoming more successful.”
Next steps
The next priority for Sharon is to promote the video far and wide and she is currently exploring options, including making patients aware of the video in their appointment letters, making posters for the wards and encouraging consultants to share the video with their patients during referral.
Sharon also shared some advice for other radiographers interested in pursuing a similar video project: “I think the key thing is building relationships with other teams that are in your hospital or trust.
“You also don’t necessarily have to do a video - you could update your trust or department website so patients can go on there and see pictures and sound clips.
“Then when you’re designing these things, it's important to think about your language, using inclusive language, keeping it simple but engaging.
“And then it’s how you share it afterwards - how can you let people know that this resource is there?”
Sharon also raised how important it is for radiology and hospital managers to consider, when upgrading or buying new equipment, investing in the extras like the environment, lighting and picture screens, to help make MRI more inclusive for all our patients: “It's an extra spend but so important with how we want to, and should, deliver our care.”
An example, Sharon explained, is where a colleague-friend who works at another hospital, used the second video to promote the need for the installation of a picture screen in their MRI unit, and successfully secured extra funding for this.
“Amazing!” she said, A proud moment for me.”
So what is next for Sharon and her video projects?
“I don’t have any plans for any more videos at the moment,” she said, “because doing this has snowballed into lots of other things
“Sharing the information is the priority at the moment, and that in itself is quite a big project.”
Sharon also has plans to work with radiographers to help improve training around communicating with patients with additional needs.
Next steps
The next priority for Sharon is to promote the video far and wide and she is currently exploring options, including making patients aware of the video in their appointment letters, making posters for the wards and encouraging consultants to share the video with their patients during referral.
Sharon also shared some advice for other radiographers interested in pursuing a similar video project: “I think the key thing is building relationships with other teams that are in your hospital or trust.
“You also don’t necessarily have to do a video - you could update your trust or department website so patients can go on there and see pictures and sound clips.
“Then when you’re designing these things, it's important to think about your language, using inclusive language, keeping it simple but engaging.
“And then it’s how you share it afterwards - how can you let people know that this resource is there?”
Sharon also raised how important it is for radiology and hospital managers to consider, when upgrading or buying new equipment, investing in the extras like the environment, lighting and picture screens, to help make MRI more inclusive for all our patients: “It's an extra spend but so important with how we want to, and should, deliver our care.”
An example, Sharon explained, is where a colleague-friend who works at another hospital, used the second video to promote the need for the installation of a picture screen in their MRI unit, and successfully secured extra funding for this.
“Amazing!” she said, A proud moment for me.”
So what is next for Sharon and her video projects?
“I don’t have any plans for any more videos at the moment,” she said, “because doing this has snowballed into lots of other things
“Sharing the information is the priority at the moment, and that in itself is quite a big project.”
Sharon also has plans to work with radiographers to help improve training around communicating with patients with additional needs.
Images: South Essex NHS Foundation Trust
About Sharon Coyle
Sharon Coyle is an MRI radiographer at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust.
Find out more about the work of the trust here.
Images: Sharon Coyle/ Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust
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