Health And Safety And Radiation Protection Example

Health And Safety And Radiation Protection Example Health And Safety And Radiation Protection â€" Assignment Example > IntroductionRadiologic imaging is an indispensable tool in current medical diagnoses and therapy. Despite its invaluable importance in the medical field, ionising radiation poses a potential hazard of being carcinogenic to patients (Picano et al. , 2004). To curb the possibility of the potential carcinogenic hazard of ionizing radiation, staff involved with radiologic procedures ranging from the medical imaging equipment manufacturers to doctors, and the radiographers should uphold the rules of medical imaging (Andersson et al. , 2008). They have a crucial obligation to ensure that the dose of ionising radiation any particular patient is exposed to is minimum and necessary to make a medical diagnosis (Lee et al. , 2004). Moreover, the legislation on radiography should be well taught and updated on a frequent basis to ensure these medical technicians and any other medical staff involved in radiology is well versed and up to date on the information (Rostamzadeh et al. , 2015). In th e United Kingdom, the ionising radiation regulations 1999 and the ionising radiation (medical exposure) 2000 govern medical imaging (“REGULATIONS”, 2000). These rules provide protocol on the dose of the radiation used on each patient and for every procedure. It also stipulates that the equipment should frequently be maintained, and the imaging personnel should be abreast on the medical imaging trends (“REGULATIONS, ” 2000). Ionising radiation dose reduction is key in protecting patients from the stochastic effects of this energy (Fazel et al. , 2009). This paper will explore the ways and techniques to minimise ionising radiation exposure to patients and how the radiographers implement their role in this process. It will highlight their role in medical imaging leaning on justification, optimisation of techniques and their managerial role in imaging procedures. Justification of exposureThe process of justification involves the physicians, radiologists as well as radiographers . The physicians/referrer play the role of ordering for the medical imaging procedure. The Radiographers are responsible for seeing to it that the dose, body surface exposure as well as the time of exposure is the minimum required diagnostic range by weighing the benefits of the procedure patient against the side effects of radiation. (Saia, 1999). In therapeutic radiations such as radiotherapy, the radiographers and oncologists have to assess the patient and justify the procedure using professional judgment. (Eairly, 1995). It is the role of radiographers to choose the alternative imaging modalities with less or no ionizing radiation in terms of efficacy, risk and health merits (Hermann et al. , 2012). Together with other members of the medical team such as radiologists, radiographers have to undertake justification process on an individual basis considering age, anatomical area to be irradiated and the gender of the patient (Huda et al. , 2008). Together with other medical perso nnel, radiographers reserve the right to dismiss unnecessary medico-legal procedures which might expose the patient to unnecessary ionizing radiation (Wall, 2005). For the pediatric population, the radiographers have a responsibility to perform further justification as children have a longer life span which increases the chances of stochastic manifestation (Wall Muirhead, 2009 ). Some interventional procedures have a higher chance of inducing cancerous effects on patients. Percutaneous coronary intervention PCI requires special documented working guidelines and a very strict observation; the Radiographers are responsible for this (Rostamzadeh et al. , 2015).