Shielding In Radiography

The use of coronary CTA is not without risks. The patient safety issues involving coronary CTA are related to radiation exposure, administration of IV contrast material, and ?-blocker and nitrate administration (Weinreb et al., 2005).

Next, the work environment is sanitary and safe, and x-ray techs tend to work regular hours. The salary is also impressive for needing only a two-year degree. According to indeed.com, the average annual salary for an x-ray tech in Iowa is around $37,000. Additionally, the average annual salary for a mammography technician in Iowa is $67,000. My mom decided to go through two-year radiologic technology technical program at Kirkwood Community College. This program is taught through Mercy/St. Luke’s, so she was considered an employee at Mercy and St. Lukes. She also had to take a registry test for radiologic technology. The day after she graduated, she started working at Mercy full-time. She started off with general x-rays. Since then, she has climbed the career ladder to a Radiologic Technologist that is also registered in Mammography, by completing a registered board test. There are many other opportunities to change positions within her field, including taking MRIs, CTs, x-rays for surgical procedures, taking x-rays at vet hospitals, etc. She could also take additional registry board tests to work within ultrasound and nuclear medicine. My mom’s favorite part of her job is being able to get close with her patients and help them.

Beginning with the accident at Three Mile Island in 1979, a widespread belief has proliferated that all levels of ionizing radiation are dangerous. Since 1980, radiation hormesis studies have shown there is actually a threshold of danger with high level exposures, but below that threshold low dose radiation is essentially safe and quite possibly beneficial to life. Yet, this relatively new, seemingly contradictory understanding of radiation's health effects has gone essentially unknown to the general public. In order to grasp the reasons why, we must again return to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

When you combine the use of proper collimation and lead shielding in any x-ray procedure you will drastically reduce the amount of exposure received by the patient. Melissa Culp, James Barba, and Melissa Jackowski state in their article titled Shield Placement: Effect on Exposure that "the current study is significant for radiologic technologists because it reinforces the finding that collimation does not eliminate exposure outside the field of view entirely. Shielding should be used in conjunction with collimation to reduce exposure as much as possible. "4 The use of shielding outside of the collimation light will confine the ionizing radiation to the part under analysis and keep the neighboring body parts from being exposed. Sadly, this step is easily forgotten by hurried radiologic technologists which means that this topic should be stressed at a greater extent in the workplace and throughout the radiologic technologist's

Secondary radiation is developed from any matter being hit by primary radiation. Secondary x-rays have less penetrating energy than primary radiation. Acute (short term) effects of radiation result from high doses of whole body radiation, 100 rads and above. Clinically, a person may experience a mild and transient illness to death. It may occur minutes, hours, or weeks after the exposure. The median lethal whole body dose for humans is 450 rads. Chronic (long-term) effects of radiation can arrive years after the original exposure. It also may have cumulative effects on the somatic cells over the lifetime of the patient. Future generations may experience genetic

There are two very divergent viewpoints across the medical provider landscape as to whether radiological testing is used too much or not enough. The basic equation comes down to a balance between being sure that certain conditions and disorders are not in play and not wasting time/money and/or exposing the patient to potential harm due to the fairly dangerous nature of being exposed to too much radiation.

The article Radiation Protection of Medical Staff1 looks at the various occupational hazards medical imaging personnel face on a day to day basis. As technology has improved over the years, there has been an increase in the number of medical imaging procedures in which medical imaging staff must stay in the room or near the patient when the radiation exposure takes place. Because of this, medical imaging personnel could be at a substantial risk of occupational exposure to radiation and they must be aware of the proper actions and steps that are in place to keep their occupational exposure dose as low as reasonably achievable.

When in the body, this type of radiation is even more

Medalia (2011) concludes that ionizing radiation, in other words radiation separate from harmless radio waves and light, has the ability to knock electrons out of atoms, causing a condition that produces an electrically charged atom that can damage human cells. Only a very small amount is needed to produce biological change. Symptoms include cancer, genetic mutations, sickness, vomiting, diarrhea, hemorrhaging, and at high doses, death within hours (Medalia 2011).

When you become a Radiologic Technologist your duty is to produce x-ray images of the patient. First you must prepare the patient for the examination by having them remove any jewelry or any other objects that could possibly interfere with the equipment. It is also your job to explain to the patient the examination process. You also must know how to properly, efficiently and safely operate radiographic equipment.

My thoughts on shielding for CT exams is mainly based off my knowledge that I learned in the Radiography program at IUN. We were taught to always shield patients if the lead apron didn’t interfere with the exam. I am currently doing clinicals for CT at Saint Anthony’s in Crown Point and their department protocol is to shield for patients under the age of 50. Although, we obviously don’t shield if it’s in the anatomy of interest. Currently, CT shielding is not as cut and dry as it is for x-ray.

The quality of medical imaging is of the utmost importance in terms of safety, and must be strictly regulated through federal legislature in addition to state legislature, ensuring the persons administering radiation are held to the highest of standards. Successfully completing accredited programs in radiologic sciences, having thorough knowledge of and resolute compliance with the rules of ethics, as well as achieving certification through the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (A.R.R.T.) by means of examination warrants an imaging professional with the tools necessary to provide and maintain a safe environment for themselves and their patients alike. Respectively, all of these components contribute to a health care professional’s

In the dental setting the main concern is the dental radiation effects on children. Panoramic dental x-rays can cause DNA damage and cellular death in oral mucosa cells of these children. Cone-beam CT scanner, which was claimed to be the safe, is harmful on children due to them being more susceptible to radiation effects. Children are by far more susceptible to changes in their cells from a given dose of radiation compared to adults because they are still growing, developing, and changing. Radiation protection is needed to protect all children and adults from the exposure, the less the exposure the less problems later in life.

When assisting the patient, the radiographers have to make sure they provide radiation safety not only for the patient but also for themselves. There are many different methods to providing safety. With the equipment and radiation dosage, highest KVp and the lowest mAs is used to provide the minimum amount of dosage required for the procedure. Furthermore, safety can be provided by reducing the amount of rime in radiation area, by putting as much distance between you and the radiation source as possible. When performing a portable examination stand at least six feet from x-ray source and wear a lead apron. The patient should remove any jewelry or metal accessories that may interfere with radiation procedure and both the technologist and the patient needs to wear protective lead shields for example lead gloves, aprons, skirts and thyroid shields to protect the other body parts from the radiation. It is advised to also always wear monitoring device at collar level. Lastly, the technologist uses immobilization devices to hold the patients when needed.

For this week’s discussion board, I chose to focus on selection number two, ionizing radiation effects on cells and tissues. “Ionizing radiation is radiation that produces immediate chemical effects on human tissue” (Perez 2013). Ionizing radiation exposure can be the result of industrial accidents, medical treatment, and radiological warfare. Alpha radiation (emitted from substances such as polonium-210) kills cells, “having the most effect on those that regenerate the most rapidly” (Huddersfield Examiner 2008). According to the CDC’s physician factsheet, the primary cause of Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS) is the depletion of immature stem cells in tissues, which is caused by a minimum radiation exposure of thirty to seventy rads (2005, 1). It should be noted, however, that ARS is typically the result of medical treatment, industrial accidents, and nuclear exposure; ARS is not equivalent to radiation sickness, which can be caused in numerous ways to include ingestion.