From the September 2022 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


Finding the right safety solutions for you
Whether it’s a stationary FMD mounted on the doorway or a hand-held scanner, having the right equipment for your facility can make or break your success. Gilk cautioned against purchasing a product from a catalog because individualized attention is important in this context.

“Deal with companies that provide training resources and materials about how to make the changes in a hospital's operational model to gain the greatest value,” he said. “The companies that sell products as if they're commodities are not the kind of partners that you want or need to get the greatest value out of a ferromagnetic detection system.”
Since every facility has unique needs and citing constraints, it’s important to assess the features and functions of each FMD on the market to find the right fit.

Kopp Development’s flagship capability is its FerrAlert FMD system’s ability to pinpoint the location of offending ferrous object. If a person with ferrous scissors in their right pocket walks through the HALO II PLUS system, it will notify staff with yellow or red lights.

If that is ignored and the person proceeds to enter the MR suite, the system will sound an audio alarm with flashing red lights at the exact height of the ferrous objects location. The location feature is especially important if the ferrous object is hidden or internal such as an implant.

Anna Srb, director of marketing and sales at the company, has received reports from customers who detected dental implants, ferromagnetic aorta clips and magnetic eyelashes when using the pre-screening FerrAlert SOLO system. She has noticed that when a customer cannot identify the object or location of it, they can become dismissive of the warning.

“When ferromagnetic detection systems do not show location of a potential ferromagnetic threat, it creates a state of confusion for the MR technologists and subsequently it also creates a distrust for ferromagnetic detection technology as a whole,” said Srb.

Some companies have developed FMDs that claim to be able to show the location of ferrous objects, but those products are still in their infant state. Srb came across their booths at a few recent trade shows and described these FMDs as not fully operational and unable to show the location of the detected ferrous objects.

Metrasens has two products, Assure and Screener, that comprise its Ferroguard Suite. Screener is for detecting small ferrous objects in Zone II and Assure is mounted to the wall outside the MR door in Zone III to detect large objects.

September 2022 Magazine

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