Radiation protection Flashcards
Which legislation applies to staff?
IRR 2017
Which legislation applies to members of the public?
IRR 2017
Which legislation applies to the patients?
IRMER - ionising radiations for medical expozures
Which legislation applies to the environment?
IRR 2017 and IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)
What are the 3 basic parameters that influence the exposure that an individual receives in a radiation field?
Time
distance
sheliding
What is the law that is applied to the reduction in radiation dose by increasing the distance?
Inverse square Law
What does tripling the distance from the x-ray tube do?
Reduces your exposure by a factor of nine
By how many times does doubling the distance from the X-ray tube reduce the exposure?
4
What does ALARP stand for?
As Low As Reasonably Practical
What is Primary radiation?
The radiation directly emitted from the radiation source through the collimator opening and from the radioactive source.
What is scatter radiation?
Radiation produced by the scattering of the primary beam from various media struck by the primary beam, such as the patient, collimators, X-ray tables.
What is leakage radiation?
Radiation that escapes through the shielded head of an x-ray tube
What is a primary barrier?
Where the primary radiation beam strikes the wall, it becomes a primary barrier. This includes the ceiling and floor.
What is a secondary barrier?
Protect against scattered and leakage radiation
What is a controlled area?
An area in which specific protection measures and safety provisions are required
When is shielding used?
When neither time nor distance is an effective method of reducing exposure
What are the roles within IRMER?
Employer, Referrer,, Practitioner, Operator, Medical Physics Expert
What is the referer responsible for under IRMER?
+ Must be a registered healthcare professional
+ Be identifiable as an accepted referrer
+ must supply sufficient medical data so the practitioner can justify
+ must supply sufficient demographic data to enable the practitioner to correctly identify the patient.
What should be included in an imaging referral?
Clinical diagnosis: Clinical findings on examination: Any available histology and any previous imaging.
Area to be examined
pregnancy status
Patient Identification.
Full name
Address with Postcode.
Date of birth.
Hospital or NHS No. if known
What are employer responsibilities?
> Providing a framework within which professionals undertake their functions.
These include written procedures/protocols and Quality Assurance programmes.
Must identify who is to act as a referrer, practitioner and operator and ensure they comply with written procedures.
The employer has the responsibility for identifying referral criteria and making sure these are available to referrers.
QA documentation.
Dose constraints for research.
Adequate professional training including CPD, RPS training, Staff competence and training records.
Investigating and reporting incidents,
Clinical Audit
Displaying DRLs
clinical governance
What are the responsibilities of a practitioner?
~ Medical professional who justifies and mayauthorise the exposure.
~ Justify the radiation risk to the patient byweighing up risks andbenefits.
~ work within scope of practice and training
What are the responsibilities of the operator?
The person who presses the button!
Operator guidelines are the final IR(ME)R check procedure!
YOU MUST JUSTIFY!
Also, ensure the patient has consented to examination!
What must be checked during vetting?
Request from an approved referrer.
Recently Dated.
Signed: manually or electronically.
Request matches clinical details.
Request authorised.
Previous Imaging.
Pregnancy.
Carer or comforter.
Imaging views required: refer to Departmental Radiographic Protocols.
What is included in post-processing responsibilities?
Record Dose.
Record Number of exposures.
Note a high-dose procedure.
Report an overexposure or when DRL has been exceeded.
Record name of Radiographer.
Date of Procedure,
Carer or Comforter present.
Pregnancy status
