Continuing education program in a clinical setting to MRI personnel: Initial experience and recommendations

In our magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) service a continuing education program has been implemented with the objective to educate and to train the personnel in MRI physics, quality assurance (QA), and MRI safety. The MRI personnel took the program for a full-year. A learner-centered teaching approach was applied; the main textbook used was The Essential Physics of Medical Imaging, third edition, from JT Bushberg and collaborators, it was complemented when necessary. The whole experience and the evaluations applied to personnel were successful; the average final grade was 8.5/10. Participants obtained or complemented the knowledge and were integrated into a multidisciplinary team. Several benefits were identified at the end of the period. The integration of different disciplines with a common objective improves effective communication and motivates the personnel to work on QA tasks. An adequate environment was created for daily work with a safety culture in mind. Establishing a continuing education program is useful not only to educate and to train the personnel, but also to integrate the medical team and to achieve high-quality standards.