2020-11-18 MRRC: Not moving forward with Dense Scheduling

November 18, 2020


Good Afternoon,

After discussion with our Advisory group and the surging number of cases of COVID-19 in Allegheny County and nationally, we will not be moving forward with the more dense schedule starting on December 1st, 2020. We will continue with the current 2 hour block scheduling and staggered starts. We will reassess in January 2021 in regards to moving to a more dense schedule.

Training:
If training of new staff is needed
    • Users can request available time or canceled time for the day of or day before
    • Two members from the research team are able to come to the MRRC and train using MRRC practice control rooms on their task. Please submit a priority request or email Jen.
    • Users can request available time or canceled time, for the day of or day before.
    • Please note: we are no longer allowing an additional research staff member to accompany the subject and RA to observe the scan from the hallway.


Schedule:
    • If your MRI is 2 hours long, you may schedule ad-hoc for available or canceled time for the last slot of the day.
    • If you will be suspending your studies for a period of time or aren’t able to fill the current fixed slots you have, please let me know ASAP and I will release them to the community.
    • The MRRC staff will be removing the more dense slots that were added for December 2020 and adding the 2 hour block COVID-19 fixed schedule-over the next few days. Attached is the fixed schedule template for COVID-19, in case there are any questions or uncertainty of fixed slots.
    • For any slots that are already confirmed (yellow), they will take priority over fixed slots-however their start time maybe moved to adhere to the start of the 2 hour fixed block.


Reminders:
    • Wait to be called to come to the MR center for your scan
    • Use the correct practice room that you reserved
    • Wear a face covering and practice social distancing
    • Continue to screen your participants 24 hours in advance of their MRI for COVID-19
    • Wash your hands or use hand sanitizer

Please click on images to download or view full form.




Please stay safe, and if there are any questions please do not hesitate to reach out.

Thank you,
Ashok Panigrahy, Beatriz Luna, & Jen Dobberstein