Personal Safety When Working with Ionizing Radiation

Personal radiation safety is paramount within interventional X-ray. Every activity should be planned to minimize unnecessary radiation exposure, as physicians and other staff members are in the room with the patient and run the risk of continued exposure to radiation.

The medical facility is responsible for maintaining a radiation safety program to keep occupational exposures below the legal dose limits. But individual staff members need to take ownership of their own personal radiation safety. This can be managed with personal protection equipment, personal dosimeters and regular monitoring to reduce exposure and staying alert to potential high levels of radiation doses.

FPO – Radiation Scatters

Some of the key issues to consider for personnel safety are:

• Use sufficient Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), as well as dosimeters that provide real-time feedback to monitor radiation levels.
• Keep the exposure time to a minimum and avoid exposing medical staff for extended periods.
• Adhere to recommended dose limits and put measures in place to carefully monitor exposure.
• Be aware of and adjust behavior, based on the type of procedure. Fluoroscopy, used in a wide variety of procedures, contributes to a major part of collective staff doses.

Watch for more blogs from us on ALARA and how to reduce radiation exposure. See how the RaySafe i3 Real-time Dosimeter can help you monitor and modify behavior to reduce radiation exposure.