The Australian Society of Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy (ASMIRT) has released a position statement about radiographers' scope of practice for cardiac medical devices.
The society stated that in Australia, it is inappropriate for radiographers to perform cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) interrogation and programming without adequate training and credentialing.
The statement comes in the wake of some medical device companies releasing new technology designed to negate the presence of a cardiologist or cardiac physiologist when people with CIEDs undergo MRI scans. One medical device company has released an app that allows MRI departments to interrogate and program the CIED themselves, the society said.
Usually, when a patient with a CIED needs an MRI scan, a cardiologist or cardiologist’s trained delegate would go through a series of steps to see if the device is MRI-conditional and set it to MRI compatibility. Standard MR practitioner education omits training in this area, making this scope of work potentially dangerous for patient care, the statement explained.
The ASMIRT recommends that MR practitioners consult with their workplace regarding training and credentialling, organization or departmental processes, consent processes, and stakeholder agreement prior to taking on CIED-related work.
The full position paper can be found here.
