QEII Health Science Centre's new mobile MRI unit will help more patients access MRIs in Nova Scotia.Supplied
When a new mobile MRI unit arrives in Nova Scotia in 2025, it will create more access for patients, resulting in quicker diagnosis and treatment and bringing care closer to home. This innovative approach will only be possible with donor support.
With the ability to travel across the province, the new MRI unit will add capacity to the system – scanning approximately 4,000 more patients annually – with the ability to move around to places of highest need. It will also help decrease wait times for some patients as emergency or urgent cases take priority.
Dr. James Clarke, QEII radiologist and chief of diagnostic imaging for Nova Scotia Health's Central Zone.Supplied
As the province’s largest and most specialized hospital, the QEII Health Sciences Centre provides care to patients from across the province and beyond. That’s why the QEII Foundation is working with donors to tackle the issue that will have an impact on patients living in communities beyond Halifax.
Dr. James Clarke, QEII radiologist and chief of diagnostic imaging for Nova Scotia Health’s Central Zone says that the project will help build capacity in all regional hospitals of Nova Scotia.
“If we add capacity in Truro, if we add capacity in Halifax, if we add capacity in Bridgewater, [there is] one less person in the system waiting for a scan, and one more person who gets the answer they need.”
Dr. Clarke adds that it’s stressful for the health-care providers who put in a request for an MRI but don’t know when it’s going to happen.
“As radiologists trying to interpret or triage these studies, it’s distressing knowing how long it’s going to take patients to get the information they want. And it’s most distressing for patients and their families.”
Greater access to MRIs, from Cape Breton to Truro to Yarmouth
Dr. JP King, a radiologist and chief of diagnostic imaging in Nova Scotia Health’s Northern Zone, which provides care to patients in the Colchester-East Hants, Cumberland and Pictou areas of the province, emphasizes how the mobile approach will benefit all Nova Scotians.
“If there’s a huge surge somewhere for requests – say, Halifax – we could place [the unit] there for six months and knock down the wait list,” he says. “And then if the wait list in Cape Breton has gone up, let’s transfer it there and do the same thing. There are other places, such as Amherst, which has a good hospital but no MRI, that would be a perfect place for it to be located for a month or two.”
MRIs are in high demand because the information they can provide is so valuable. Unlike a CT scanner, which differentiates between bone and soft tissue, MRIs can differentiate between soft tissue types, aiding in identifying and diagnosing a wide range of conditions, including many cancers. MRIs are critical for examining the brain, spinal cord, and heart, as well as hips, knees, shoulders, and other joints and muscles.
This mobile unit can be moved by a standard 18-wheel transport truck and set up near a health centre in a matter of days, with minimal infrastructure investment.
“A mobile MRI offers flexibility on where you can move the service, not the patients,” says Dr. King. “Patients don’t always want to travel for a medical appointment, and maybe they cannot afford to travel.”
A way to implement needed upgrades
Dr. Clarke notes that having a mobile MRI will also allow for upgrades to existing units.
“We have a fleet of MRIs in Nova Scotia that are old and need to be replaced,” he says. “We can take the mobile MRI to each location and continue to offer MRI scans during the months it takes to complete the renovations.”
And because modern MRIs can scan patients faster than the older technology, Dr. Clarke says three upgraded scanners are equivalent to four older ones. “We’re not just adding one MRI machine into the system, but much more.”
These upgrades will help move the province’s MRI services closer to meeting national standards, which include a 60-day wait for an elective MRI and a 30-day wait for semi-urgent cases.
While the province has made considerable progress increasing MRI access, donor support will help even more patients.
“We’re not even remotely close to those targets [right now]. We need to make improvements as rapidly as possible,” says Dr. Clarke.
Dr. King underscores that the project will benefit all Nova Scotians.
“This piece of equipment is not a one-foundation, one-site piece of equipment,” Dr. King says. “This [campaign] is an opportunity for every single person in any community to help, together, if they have the means.”
Your support will help bring a mobile MRI unit to more patients in 2025. Click here to donate today.
Advertising feature produced by Globe Content Studio with QEII. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.