Current issues and actions in radiation protection of patients

Holmberg, Ola; Malone, Jim; Rehani, Madan M.; McLean, Donald; Czarwinski, Renate

doi:10.1016/j.ejrad.2010.06.033

Cited by 77 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…While more than 10 million diagnostic radiology procedures are being conducted every day around the world, the use of ionizing radiation for the imaging of patients is steadily increasing (1). The associated risks following the exposure of such a large population due to the stochastic and non-stochastic effects of ionization radiation created a global concern (2).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gonad Shielding for Patients Undergoing Conventional Radiological Examinations: Is There Cause for Concern?

Karami

Zabihzadeh

Gholami

2016

Jentashapir J Health Res

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Background: Gonad shielding is one of the fundamental methods by which to protect reproductive organs in patients undergoing conventional radiological examinations. A lack of or inadequate shielding of the gonads may increase the exposure of these organs and result in malignancies future generations. Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of gonad shielding in patients undergoing conventional radiological examinations and the availability of gonad shields and gonad shielding protocols in radiology departments. Materials and Methods: A retrospective, observational cross-sectional study on the application of gonad shielding, the availability of gonad shields and the existence of gonad shielding protocols in radiology departments was performed in five different hospitals in Ahvaz, Iran. Results: The highest application of gonad shielding was 6.6% for the pediatric hospital. The prevalence of gonad shielding was less than 0.2%. In 64.3% of the radiography rooms, at least one flat-contact gonad shield of a large size was available. Only large-sized gonad shields were available. Curved-contact and shadow gonad shields did not exist. Gonad shielding protocols were not existence in any of the fourteen radiography rooms investigated. Conclusions: Comprehensive protection programs with on-the-job training courses for staff members are strongly recommended, as well as, the provision of radiological shields and gonad shielding protocols in radiology departments to reduce the patient's radiation dose during radiological examinations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gonad Shielding for Patients Undergoing Conventional Radiological Examinations: Is There Cause for Concern?

Karami

Zabihzadeh

Gholami

2016

Jentashapir J Health Res

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“…CT scans are recognized to be a high radiation dose modality with the concern that the doses could in some cases be clinically unjustified [4][5][6]. Many researchers have highlighted issues regarding choice of CT parameters and the influence on the dose to patients, the discussions narrowing down on how to optimize the dose [7][8][9][10], noting that there are many possible combinations of choice to optimize CT parameters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of knowledge and awareness among radiology personnel regarding current computed tomography technology and radiation dose

Karim

Hashim

Bradley

et al. 2016

J. Phys.: Conf. Ser.

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“…In radiation oncology, cross-organizational and international voluntary reporting systems have been used to share incident information [25,26], and incident learning systems have been used successfully to improve patient safety at several institutions [15,16,21]. In our department, the MDT meeting, as a structure on the clinical side, had been empowered to improve patient safety with the internal incident learning since 2009, and the integrated clinical staff act as facilitators of quality in clinical practice presently.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality Improvement in External Radiation Therapy Using a Departmental Incident Reporting System and Multidisciplinary Team Efforts

Monzen¹,

Yoshioka²

2015

J Nucl Med Radiat Ther

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Purpose: Incidents in radiation therapy occur due to the complex process, non-automated procedures, and miscommunication. We performed a prospective study to reduce the incidence rate during 4 years of external radiation therapy using incident-reporting system with multidisciplinary team (MDT) efforts. Methods:Incidents from May 2009 to April 2013 were recorded, blame-free and voluntarily. The incidents involved errors which were unintended, whether they caused patient harm or not. Cause analysis of the incidents and interventions were performed through an MDT meeting in which all staff participated, including radiation oncologists, medical physicists, nurses, and radiation technologists. Our interventions included continuous feedback and improvements with minimized unnecessary stress. Results:In total, 49 actual incidents among 2,350 radiation therapy courses were noted during the 4 years. The actual incidents occurred most frequently during treatment planning (74%, 36/49), followed by treatment delivery (20%, 10/49). Of the 49 actual incidents, 59%, 16%, 12%, 8%, 2%, 2% incidents were caused by failure to follow procedures or policies, incomplete knowledge, miscommunication, operation errors, work environment, and incorrect supervision, respectively. The actual incident rates, based on the number of treatment courses, were 4%, 2%, 1%, and 1% in the first, second, third, and fourth years, respectively. We found a significant decrease in the actual incident rate during the third and fourth years compared with the first year (p<0.01). Conclusions:The frequency of incidents during radiation therapy was reduced using a voluntary incident reporting system and the efforts of a MDT.

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Current issues and actions in radiation protection of patients

Cited by 77 publications

References 12 publications

Gonad Shielding for Patients Undergoing Conventional Radiological Examinations: Is There Cause for Concern?

Gonad Shielding for Patients Undergoing Conventional Radiological Examinations: Is There Cause for Concern?

Assessment of knowledge and awareness among radiology personnel regarding current computed tomography technology and radiation dose

Quality Improvement in External Radiation Therapy Using a Departmental Incident Reporting System and Multidisciplinary Team Efforts

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