Establishing a Radiation Protection Culture in Medicine- an Interactive Session

According to the Israeli Ionizing Radiation Regulations every employer must ensure that those of its employees who work with ionizing radiation are given appropriate training in the field of radiation protection and receive information and instruction suitable and sufficient for them to know:

• the risks to health created by exposure to ionizing radiation
• the radiation protection procedures and precautions which should be taken
• the importance of complying with the medical, technical and administrative requirements of the Regulations

Radiation safety is most about education and proactive prevention.

This is done in a variety of ways including staff awareness and training.

The increased use of ionizing radiation in medicine, the growing use of computed tomography as well as the high radiation doses delivered by interventional procedures, have raised serious safety and health concerns for both patients and medical staff and have necessitated the establishment of a radiation protection culture (RPC) in medicine.

The establishment of a RPC enables the reduction of the radiation dose, enhances radiation risk awareness, minimizes unsafe practices, and improves the quality of a radiation protection program.

The most important factor contributing to the creation of a RPC is the continuous education and training of the staff. Physicians, radiographers, nurses and other medical staff need to have knowledge of radiation protection regulations and a comprehensive understanding of the factors that affect patient and occupational dose in order to minimize the harmful effects of ionizing radiation. All staff should be adequately trained in order to keep the dose as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA principle), be familiar with radiation quantity units, pay special attention to radiation protection of pregnant and pediatric patients and proper use of the radiation protection equipment.