Personal dose monitoring in hospitals: global assessment, critical applications and future needs

Abstract

It is known that medical applications using ionising radiation are wide spread and still increasing. Physicians, technicians, nurses and others constitute the largest group of workers occupationally exposed to man-made sources of radiation. Many hospital workers are consequently subjected to routine monitoring of professional radiation exposures. in the university hospital, UZ Brussel, 600 out of 4000 staff members are daily monitored for external radiation exposures. The most obvious applications of ionising radiation are diagnostic radiology, diagnostic or therapeutic use of radionuclides in nuclear medicine and external radiation therapy or brachytherapy in radiotherapy departments. Other important applications also include various procedures in interventional radiology (IR), in vitro biomedical research and radiopharmaceutical production around cyclotrons. Besides the fact that many of the staff members, involved in these applications, are not measurably exposed, detailed studies were carried out at workplaces where routine dose monitoring encounters difficulties and for some applications where relatively high occupational exposures can be found. most of the studies are concentrated around nuclear medicine applications and IR. They contain assessments of both effective dose and doses at different parts of the body. The results contribute to better characterisation of the different workplaces in a way that critical applications can be identified. Moreover, conclusions point out future needs for practical routine dose monitoring and optimisation of radiation protection.

Cancer incidence among large cohort of female Danish registered nurses

“…Brain cancer has also been hypothesized to be associated with occupational exposure to ionizing radiation (32)(33)(34). The use of ionizing radiation for diagnosis and treatments is not restricted to radiology departments but may also occur in specialist wards, such as cardiology, vascular surgery, general surgery, gastroenterology, urology, and traumatology (35,36). In-ward use of ionizing radiation usually requires that medical personnel stand next to the patient.…”

“…In-ward use of ionizing radiation usually requires that medical personnel stand next to the patient. It is standard practice that the staff wear lead aprons for protection, but the high dose rates and the heavy workload can result in exposure of unshielded persons or unprotected parts of the body such as the extremities, the head, and the eyes (35).…”

Occupational Radiation Exposure in Health Care Facilities

“…Occupational exposure is the result of radiation exposure at work and personal dosimetry is an important tool to ensure compliance with regulatory or generally accepted dose limits. 2,3 There are 207 hospitals in Nepal; both public and private. 4 Moreover, the hospitals in rural areas are few and with limited resources.…”

Assessment of occupational exposure in non-medical facilities of Bangladesh

“…So it is very important to measure the occupational exposure dose. Occupational exposure is the result of radiation exposure at work and personal dosimetry is an important tool to ensure compliance with regulatory or generally accepted dose limits [3,4]. Analysis of the received occupational doses is an important component of institutional radiation protection Technologists performing interventional procedures programs are expected to have a higher dose investigation level than those merely involved in general radiography [5].…”