Health care worldwide is a dynamic entity. Countries around the globe differ in both the application of technology and the roles of healthcare personnel. These differences not only vary country to country but also from region to region in a given county. In the past 30 years, the field of MRI has grown tremendously from the test nobody had ever heard of to a routine test explained by commentators on Monday Night Football when a player gets an injury.

Cardiac imaging, MR guided procedures such as open brain tumor surgery, spine surgery, thermal ablation, breast and percutaneous biopsies, and most recently, focused ultra sound ablation are performed at medical centers around the world. It is evident that MR has become more interdisciplinary in nature as the field of MRI continues to evolve. MR personnel now include nurses, anesthesiologists and surgeons in addition to radiologists, technologists and researchers. The purpose of this article is to cover the roles nurses are playing in MR (primarily from a U.S. perspective) and to start raising the awareness of how nurses and technologists can work together to provide continuity of care to patients. It should be noted that the role of the MR technologist is also expanding both in the US and other countries into areas traditionally considered for physicians and nurse practitioners. It is prudent to grow with these changes and learn to work together in this dynamic field as we care for our patients. In most countries, MR technologists are the scanner operators, managers and comprehensive care providers. However, in some countries nurses play some or all of these MR roles. In addition, personnel with a wide variety of science and healthcare backgrounds and degrees are conducting MR research all over the world. What is of paramount importance is that the safety and quality of care to the patient ­ whether human or animal ­ is held to high standards. How do we do this? We work together as a health care team.

In the United States, the role of nurses in MR has typically been placing intravenous catheters, providing sedation and monitoring patients. As MR has progressed towward working with patients with higher acuity levels, the development of interventional/surgical MR suites and cardiovascular stress imaging, the role of the nurse in MR has grown tremendously. The role of the MR nurse now may include patient preparation, medication administration, examination coordination, circulating or scrubbing for open surgery, infection control, performing patient and staff education, risk management and crisis management. The roles of nurses are as varied as the MR settings and the areas they are located.Unfortunately nurses have had a difficult time finding educational opportunities that fit with the MR nursing roles. The ISMRM/SMRT, is announcing the start of a web list serve site for nurses who work in all capacities in the field of MR, which is similar to the MR technologist list serve. The purpose of the nurse list serve is to have a forum for nurses working in the MR environment to communicate and a means to reach out to nurses to find out where they are, what roles they are performing, and what are their specific educational needs? The ISMRM/SMRT should be the Society to provide MR education for all health care personnel.

We encourage nurses everywhere to join this list serve and share ideas. The SMRT MR Nurses list serve (smrt_NurseMR@ismrm.org)  can be joined through completing the "online form" link below.  In addition, interested persons may also contact Angela (akanan@partners.org) or Maureen (mhood@usuhs.mil).

Thanks in advance for helping to establish this important communication.

Angela Kanan BSN, RN, CNOR, CRN

A list server is a simple system that allows persons with like or similar interests to actively communicate with one another via e-mail. There is no cost other than having an e-mail account. There are thousands of lists available that reach across all walks of life and ranges of interest. Many are "open" to anyone interested, and there are no requirements to provide information prior to joining. Others are "closed" and require specific information to be eligible to join, and the subscriber can be removed from the list by the list owner at any time.  The list server works by distributing all messages sent to it to all subscribers of the list. Responses can be made back directly to the specific person who posed the questions, or to the whole list allowing everyone to benefit from the answers.

To subscribe to the smrt_NursesMR List Server, just fill out the online form.  Be sure to fill out the form completely to ensure placement on the list serve.  We require information regarding your place of employment and contact information, especially if you are attempting to join using an e-mail account which is not part of a corporate domain.  Please allow two weeks for processing.  Vendors are not discouraged from joining, but are required to follow additional rules such as NO solicitations allowed for services, products, etc. Failure to follow the rules means immediate cancellation of membership.