PROTECTING PATIENTS AND STAFF FROM RADIATION EXPOSURE RISKS IN HOSPITALS

Radiation affects staff, too.

Radiation exposure is an everyday fact of life in hospitals. At the same time, it puts staff and patients at risk of real health problems down the road. Hospitals, to combat this, need to limit radiation exposure for patients and staff. This can be done by bolstering PPE usage, improving education, and embracing new technology.

In this guide, hospital staff will learn:

About radiation risks

What is the actual danger

How to lower the potential damage for themselves and their patients

What Are the Radiation Risks in a Hospital?

To start things off, neither patients nor staff members can be always fully protected from working with radiation in hospitals. It’s an inherent risk in the practice of medicine.

“Good” and Bad Radiation

To see how, let’s clarify what we mean by “radiation” in the context of hospital risk. There’s “ionizing radiation”, which is the more dangerous form of radiation. Too much puts patients and hospital staff in danger by increasing DNA damage and the chance of developing cancer.

X-rays, gamma rays, radon, and ultraviolet emissions are all forms of this radiation.

“Non-ionizing radiation”, in contrast, is made up of electromagnetic emissions that are basically harmless. MRI machines, which use magnetic fields and radio waves, emit this form of radiation. Visible light, radio waves, and infrared (heat), are other well-known examples.

Ionizing Radiation in a Hospital

Medical imaging and radiation therapy are the main sources of ionizing radiation found in most hospitals.

CT scans, x-ray machines, and PET scans are examples of medical imaging. They are used to help diagnose medical conditions. Radiation therapy, on the other hand, uses ionizing radiation to treat cancer and other diseases. Chemotherapy, targeted radiation, and gamma knife procedures are all examples of this use of radiation.

Neither one of these techniques is harmful in small doses. The risks come from staff members being exposed every day when operating the machines, and patients with chronic issues have to receive more than the usual number of scans.

Effects of Radiation on Patients and Staff

Low doses of radiation are not dangerous in themselves. It’s the over-exposure which can be extremely harmful in the long term.

The more ionizing radiation a human is exposed to, the more their DNA becomes damaged. The more DNA damage a cell has, the more likely it is to grow and replicate into cancerous tissue.

The standard amount of “safe” ionizing radiation a human can receive is 20 millisieverts (mSv) a year. This is around 2 or 3 CT scans. Going over 20 mSv a year for five years causes cancer rates to noticeably jump up to a 1 in 1000 chance of fatal cancer. Over the life of a patient, the radiation absorbed by CT scans is projected to cause cancer in anywhere from 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 500 people.

Unfortunately, studies have shown CT scans are responsible for nearly half of all collective radiation absorbed by the populace from all x-ray scans.

So imagine staff members administering those scans. They may not be getting the same scans, but they’re exposed to similar dangers in their work environment. How? Scattered X-rays and other radiation bounce around the room during imaging procedures.

Mitigating Radiation Risk in Hospitals

Reducing the risks of radiation damage for patients and healthcare staff takes a three-pronged approach. These are:

Strong personal protective equipment (PPE) compliance

Cutting-edge technology to make imaging safer and more efficient

Thorough education on radiation and the procedures that produce it

PPE compliance could be better

Hospitals have methods to protect staff and patients from radiation exposure during scans. An 2021 NCBI “Radiation Safety and Protection” paper shows that the equipment used isn’t always applied in the most effective way. For example:

Imaging techs are supposed to use leaded glasses to protect their eyes from radiation. However, it appears only a 2.5 percent to 5 percent actually comply. This is particularly unfortunate because it’s been shown that 90 percent of radiation exposure to the eyes can be prevented by leaded eyeglasses.

Dosimeters are devices worn by staff who are frequently exposed to harmful radiation. These devices warn someone when they’re approaching dangerous levels of absorption. However, it’s been reported that only 50 percent of physicians wearing them are either not doing so or wearing them improperly.

Lead aprons and garments protect patients and staff from unintended radiation exposure. These lead garments need to be checked twice a year for cracks and breaks, and subjected to tests that they’re still blocking radiation. Studies have shown many are not getting the maintenance required.

Technology Helps Find and Plug Holes in Radiation Safety Procedures

The right technology can prevent radiation risks before they happen.

Saint Thomas’ Midtown Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee found success by having staff members wear sensor badges. These in turn were tied to a monitoring system called METER. It tracked staff across multiple sites and gathered data about how much radiation exposure they received. This helped the hospital spot where radiation risks may be highest in order to make changes.

Another technology that prevents radiation risk is the bleeding-edge process of “ghost imaging” (“ghost tomography”). This form of 3-D imaging uses two x-ray beams, split between the patient and a sensor panel. Tests showed that while ghost imaging provided the same accuracy levels of a normal x-ray scan, it did so with far less radiation exposure.

Other ways to reduce exposure include switching to properly-shielded medical grade monitors for imaging systems, to lowering the electrical interference that can extend imaging sessions or make results less accurate.

Radiation Education

The final and likely most effective way to protect hospital patients and staff from radiation is to simply provide more accurate – and frequent – education on the risks.

First, radiation protection protocols should also be available in easy-to-access, comprehensive digital formats like Stanford’s Radiation Protection manual.

It was found that a 20-minute instructional video for the relevant hospital staff dropped the total time it takes to perform fluoroscopy by 30 to 50 percent. That’s a huge reduction in radiation exposure time.

Lastly, staff also found that they could reduce the amount of the scattered radiation from x-rays by 400 percent by simply doubling the distance they would stand from the X-ray machine.

Lowering Radiation Risk and Increasing Efficiency with Better Computers

Protecting patients and staff from harmful ionization radiation requires better PPE compliance, stronger radiation education, and the right gear and technology to lower radiation exposure for everyone.

To learn more about how radiological imaging processes can be improved by specialty healthcare computers or by integrating medical panel PCs into imaging equipment, contact an expert at Cybernet.