Principles of radiation protection Flashcards
What is the difference between therapeutic and diagnostic x rays?
Theraputic is used to teat, diagnostic is ued to determine ilnesss or inury
What are the four main aspects of radiaton safety?
- Patients shouldnt be subjected to unessesary radiographic procedures
- The patient must be protected from excessive raidation during exam
- Personnel within favility must be protected from expessive exposure during work
- Personnel and general public in vaccinity of such facilities require adequate protection
Are surgeons requried to have lead protection?
Yes, prior to scrubbing in
Why are repeat exposures problematic?
Unessesary radiation exposure (doubling your dose)
How do DI values help us evaluate an exposure?
Helps us determine whether the patient has recieved too much or too little radiation (compared to target value)
What are the 3 cardinal principles of radiation protection?
- Time
- Distance
- Shielding
How can we reduce the radiation time for patients?
By reducing the amount of x-ray exposure with floroscopy
(reciprocity does not apply)
How do we reduce the time of radiation exposure for personnel?
Shortening the length of time in the room
How do we reduce the distance for technologists
Standing as far away at a 90 degree angle to the source
Who does dose limits apply to?
The amount of radiation exposure that the general public or operator could recieve as a result of an exposure
What is the basis of the effective dose limiting system?
Malignancy
What are DL advisory groups?
They formulate risk estimates of somatic and genetic effects of irradiation
What group is the umbrella agency for world radiation protection?
International commission on radiological protection
What safety code do we have to follow in Canada?
Safety code 35 (from health canada)
What two agenices in Ontario are involved in radiologic protection/safety?
- Ministriy of health-HARP (healing arts radiation protection commision)
- Ministry of labour-occupational health and safety act
What is the unit of measurement for exposure?
Coulomb per kg (C/kg) or mR
Define exposure:
The number of ionizations in air
What is the unit for absorbed dose?
mGy