This WebM&M highlights two cases of patient safety events that occurred due to medication dosing related to diagnostic imaging. The commentary highlights the challenges of administering sedation for diagnostic imaging, the use of risk stratification to understand patient risk for oversedation, and strategies for appropriate monitoring and communication.

The list of never events has expanded over time to include adverse events that are unambiguous, serious, and usually preventable. While most are rare, when never events occur, they are devastating to patients and indicate serious underlying organizational safety problems.

After presenting with new left-sided weakness and hypertensive urgency, a woman was admitted to the stroke unit, and the consulting neurologist ordered an urgent MRI of the brain. Although the patient required pushes of intravenous hypertensive medication to control her blood pressure (BP), she was taken to radiology where the nurse checked her BP one more time before leaving her in the MRI machine with the BP cuff still on. Within a few seconds of starting the scan, the patient's arm with the BP cuff was sucked into the MRI scanner, making a loud noise.

An ICU patient with head and spine trauma was sent for an MRI. Due his critical condition, hospital policy required a physician and nurse to accompany the patient to the MRI scanner. The ICU attending assigned a new intern, who felt unprepared to handle any crises that might arise, to transport the patient along with the nurse. While in a holding area awaiting the MRI, the patient's heart rate fell below 20 beats per minute, and the experienced ICU nurse administered atropine to recover his heart rate and blood pressure.