Improving Radiation Awareness and Feeling of Personal Security of Non-Radiological Medical Staff by Implementing a Traffic Light System in Computed Tomography

Abstract

Purpose: Non-radiological medical professionals often need to remain in the scanning room during computed tomography (CT) examinations to supervise patients in critical condition. Independent of protective devices, their position significantly influences the radiation dose they receive. The purpose of this study was to assess if a traffic light system indicating areas of different radiation exposure improves non-radiological medical staff?s radiation awareness and feeling of personal security. Material and Methods: Phantom measurements were performed to define areas of different dose rates and colored stickers were applied on the floor according to a traffic light system: green?=?lowest, orange?=?intermediate, and red?=?highest possible radiation exposure. Non-radiological medical professionals with different years of working experience evaluated the system using a?structured questionnaire. Kruskal-Wallis and Spearman?s correlation test were applied for statistical analysis. Results: Fifty-six subjects (30 physicians, 26 nursing staff) took part in this prospective study. Overall rating of the system was very good, and almost all professionals tried to stand in the green stickers during the scan. The system significantly increased radiation awareness and feeling of personal protection particularly in staff with ??5 years of working experience (p?<?0.05). The majority of non-radiological medical professionals stated that staying in the green stickers and patient care would be compatible. Knowledge of radiation protection was poor in all groups, especially among entry-level employees (p?<?0.05). Conclusion: A traffic light system in the CT scanning room indicating areas with lowest, in-termediate, and highest possible radiation exposure is much appreciated. It increases radiation awareness, improves the sense of personal radiation protection, and may support endeavors to lower occupational radiation exposure, although the best radiation protection always is to re-main outside the CT room during the scan. Key Points: ??A traffic light system indicating areas with different radiation exposure within the computed tomography scanner room is much appreciated by non-radiological medical staff. ??The traffic light system increases non-radiological medical staff?s radiation awareness and feeling of personal protection. ??Knowledge on radiation protection was poor in non-radiological medical staff, espe-cially in those with few working experience. Citation Format: ??Heilmaier C, Mayor A, Zuber N et?al. Improving Radiation Awareness and Feeling of Personal Security of Non-Radiological Medical Staff by Implementing a Traffic Light System in Computed Tomography. Fortschr R?ntgenstr 2016; 188: 280???287

Staff dose evaluation by application of radiation protection during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) procedures performed with a mobile C-arm

“…Nevertheless, the benefit for the user in terms of radiation protection was found to be reduced in the clinical experiments. Apart from the already mentioned factors, different workflows of the operator and individual radiation protection training are human factors, which have to be considered (18).…”

Occupational Radiation Dose, Especially for Eye Lens: Hp(3), in Medical Staff Members Involved in Computed Tomography Examinations

“…Many studies have investigated the occupational radiation dose in interventional radiology (IR), wherein medical staff may be exposed to considerable scattered X-rays. However, few studies have discussed occupational radiation dose in CT examinations [1][2][3][4][5][6]12]. Our literature search did not reveal any report that directly investigated the radiation dose of eye lens as H p (3).…”

“…Medical staff members (e.g., physicians, nurses and radiological technologists) occasionally remain in the CT examination room during irradiation to monitor the injection of the contrast media, to restrain the patient, operate medical devices, etc. [1][2][3][4][5][6]. These actions are performed for medical safety/procedures or maintaining image quality.…”

Avaliação computacional das doses médicas e ocupacionais durante diagnóstico de COVID-19 em pacientes pediátricos empregando tomografia computadorizada

“…A exposição ocupacional é uma preocupação mundial, por isso, na literatura pode-se encontrar diversos trabalhos referente às doses recebidas pelos profissionais da radiologia intervencionista (KIM et al, 2012;SANTOS et al, 2018). Porém, sobre exposições desses profissionais em TC são encontrados poucos trabalhos (HEILMAIER et al, 2016;NANG, 2017;SOOKPEN et al, 2019) O estudo de Xie et al (2020), conduzido com 20 pacientes pediátricos com idades entre 1 ano a 14 anos de ambos os sexos, determinou sinais padrões de infecções do vírus agente da Covid-19 nas imagens de TC do tórax nesses pacientes, desde o estágio inicial até o estágio de recuperação. Esses sinais padrões são opacidades em vidro fosco, consolidações e sinal de halo invertido (HUANG et al, 2020;XIE et al, 2020), que foram apresentados nas imagens de pacientes adultos e também nas imagens de TC das crianças (Figura 3.1.2).…”

“…O surgimento desses efeitos biológicos nos profissionais deu origem ao o termo "exposição ocupacional"(LINET et al, 2010).Na radiologia intervencionista encontra-se muitos trabalhos relacionados a exposição ocupacional(KIM et al, 2012;SANTOS et al, 2018). Já na TC encontra-se poucos trabalhos(HEILMAIER et al, 2016;NANG, 2017; SOOKPEN et al, 2019), que estudam as doses nos profissionais que acompanham os pacientes durante a realização do exame convencional de TC, na administração de contrastes no PET/CT(AL-HAJ et al, 2003) e na fluroscopia guiada por imagens de TC(KIM et al, 2012). O estudo suíço de Heilmaier (tórax teve o objetivo de determinar as doses de radiação espalhadas em uma sala de TC durante o exame de tórax de um adulto e assim realizar observações de segurança e proteção radiológica dos profissionais nos hospitais de Vietnã.…”