BIC Policies

INFRASTRUCTURE AND FACILITIES

Access

To protect the safety of all personnel and equipment, access to the Imaging Facilities in NHB and HDB is controlled by BIC staff.

Certain levels of training and personnel screening are contingent on the site and desired Zone of access to ensure no harm to users, the patients or participants being scanned, or the Center’s equipment.

Requests for facility access require submission of the appropriate forms by the requesting individual’s authorized line-manager. Personal requests for access will not be granted. See the Procedures section for zoning diagrams of each site and instructions for obtaining facility access.

Note that the BIC only controls access to Imaging Center facilities. General building access to either NHB or HDB is controlled by their respective Building Manager. See NHB and HDB Access

Safety and Security

BIC is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for users, clinical patients, research participants, and Center staff. All users and staff must obtain the safety training required for the specific facility and resources being used. The privacy of both clinical patients and research participants must be respected at all times and the use of BIC's resources must be planned and scheduled accordingly. See the Safety Page for more information regarding BIC's safety and security policies and procedures.

Training and Orientation

Training is offered for use of BIC resources to support independent and assisted research activities and for the DMS / UTHA staff of the UT Austin Imaging Center at HDB. Please see the Training page for more details concerning resource training policies and procedures. An on-site orientation is included in the training process but may also be requested independent of resource training for UT affiliates.

EQUIPMENT AND RESOURCES

Scanning Policy

All individuals must receive the appropriate training and provide any required documentation prior to utilization of BIC resources. All human research scans must be performed by a certified scanner operator supported by an appropriately trained assistant. For MRI scans this corresponds to a Level 2 certified user (or MRI Technologist) and a Level 1 trained assistant. For human imaging research studies, participants must be accompanied at all times while within Zone 1 of the Center. Individuals accompanying research participants may wait in designated waiting rooms within Zone 0 while a study is ongoing. Adults may wait in Zone 0 unaccompanied; minors (<16 yrs) must be accompanied by an adult at all times. Research participants that require additional support e.g. those from vulnerable populations, may be accompanied into the Center under certain restrictions – please contact BIC staff for guidance.

Scheduling

BIC’s imaging systems and resources are available on a first-come first-served basis and can be scheduled via the FBS online portal. Scheduling privileges can be requested via the FBS access request form upon completion of the required training and orientations. Note that the resources of the UT Austin Imaging Center are shared by BIC and UT Health Austin (UTHA) during clinic hours (7am – 4pm) and neither entity has priority of access during this time. When a resource has been reserved, it is for the exclusive use of that user / group and other individuals are not permitted to enter the space.

To maximize available scanner time, imaging systems should be booked on the hour or 1/2 hour and/or abutted to a scheduled session. The imaging systems should not be reserved before a study participant has been confirmed. Advance booking of sessions (> 3 months) is permitted for longitudinal studies with a rigid timeline.

Research studies must be scheduled with a minimum of 15 minutes dedicated to the setup and takedown of equipment. This time is in addition to the total time spent on running scan protocols. For example, a group with a 30 minute scan protocol must book the scanner for 45 minutes to ensure sufficient time for setup and takedown. Some studies may require more than 15 minutes setup / takedown time depending on the complexity of the study and the involvement of certain participant populations (e.g. individuals with limited mobility). 

Session Overruns

Unforeseen experimental issues are an inevitable part of running studies using our resources, so occasional session overruns are unavoidable.

If a scan is still running with 10 minutes remaining before the end of your scheduled time, your session will overrun.

At this point you must email bic-staff@utlists.utexas.edu so that we can assess the situation, inform affected users, and work with you to complete your data collection. A scan protocol may not be started after the expiration of a group’s allotted time without explicit permission of the BIC. Studies that persistently overrun will be required to book additional time for their imaging sessions.

Failure to notify BIC staff of an overrun will result in the automatic addition of 15 minutes of scan time to your booking. At the BIC staff’s discretion, imaging sessions that run more than 15 minutes overtime may be ended before completion. FBS booking privileges may be restricted for frequent instances of failing to notify BIC staff of scan overruns.

If your imaging session is affected by an overrun of the prior session without notification, please email bic-staff@utlists.utexas.edu with information about the situation.

To prevent scan overruns and scheduling congestion, an imaging session that would start more than 20 minutes late should be cancelled and rescheduled unless there is an open slot following your booking that can be used as buffer time. If buffer time is utilized, please reserve the time in FBS to account for clinical scans that are frequently booked on short notice.

Resource Cancellations

Resources booked via the FBS portal may be cancelled without restriction up to 72 hours before a session. When cancelling a booking within 72 hours of the session, the BIC must be notified through the appropriate email distribution list in consideration of other users that may make use of the session. Following this, the BIC staff will remove the booking on FBS. A session cancelled within 24 hours of the booking may be liable for the full Resource Usage Fee.

Resource Fee Waivers

BIC has a generous policy regarding the waiving of resource fees in the event of unforeseen circumstances. Fee waiver requests relating to a failure of BIC-maintained equipment will be approved, but we are not liable for a lab’s own equipment or operator error. Fee waiver requests for participant no-shows or errors will be honored up to two times per semester. Persistent issues with participant no-shows requires a review of screening and scheduling procedures. Resource fee waiver requests or corrections must be submitted within 2 billing cycles.

BIC Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

INFRASTRUCTURE AND FACILITIES

Access

• NHB / HDB Imaging Facility Access - BACS
• NHB and HDB Building Access

Training and Orientation

• Wiki Training page 

EQUIPMENT AND RESOURCES

Scheduling

• FBS portal
• Scheduling with FBS - User Guide
• FBS Best Practices
• FBS access request form

Session Overruns

• Overrun Procedure

Incidental Findings

• Incidental Findings Submission Form

Resource Cancellations and Fee Waivers

• Resource Cancellation Procedure
• Resource Fee Waiver Request Form

OLD CONTENT

MRI Human Subject

• Medical Emergencies
• Fire Emergencies
• Emergency Flowchart
• L1 Training Request Form
• Screening subjects with Redcap
• Incidental Findings Forms (pdf version) - ** please use webform below
• Incidental Findings webform
• Resource MRI Safety Screening Forms

BIC Facilities

• Flatscreen Visual Stimulus
• BIC Parking Permits: NHB & HDB
• Getting Your Data via SFTP

Covid Protocols

• Health Screening
• Disinfection Protocols