While radiation exposure is necessary for physicians to perform life-saving procedures, the average radiation dose levels received are staggering. In fact, it is estimated that interventional radiology physicians receive approximately 3 mSv of radiation dose per year, which is more radiation than a nuclear power plant worker receives (1.23 mSv) over the same time period.
Recently there has been a boon of new health care technology to help manage radiation dose to patients, namely automated “dose tracking software” that collects patient radiation dose from imaging exams and performs detailed analysis. Healthcare providers are already seeing this help drive the improvements required by the Joint Commission.
In addition to managing patients’ radiation dose, it’s also critical to manage radiation exposure to physicians and caregivers. Tools are also now available to read in real time radiation exposure in the operating room.
A New Radiation Dose Philosophy: Understand, Integrate, Educate, Improve
This new world of enhanced radiation safety oversight can be grouped into four “pillars” to build and sustain a thorough and effective radiation safety program.
1. Understand: Establish technical evaluation and analysis of the care providers’ radiation protection program for a baseline view of the current radiation dose management protocols.
2. Integrate: Enable customized tools and solution implementation to drive improvement in managing radiation exposure to patients and staff.
3. Educate: Enable a collaborative learning environment within the health care institution to make appropriate training available so that staff knows how to use the tools they have invested in. Don’t forget about patients! Educating patients on the risk and benefits of their medical radiation exposure is an important part of transparent care that is currently underdeveloped.
4. Improve: Use industry benchmarking and other comparative analysis in collaboration with professional support to drive improvements and lower dose levels to both patients and staff.
As the Clinical Marketing Manager for DoseWise Solutions, Dominic is responsible for leading and coordinating radiation health issues globally for all Philips Healthcare Imaging Systems. He supports radiation emitting medical devices for compliance with international/FDA standards and performs incident analysis/investigation, regulatory body liaison and operates as an internal expert radiation consultant.
Follow Dominic on:
Radiation Safety and the Growing Importance of Hospital IT Interoperability
The Road Ahead: The Future of Radiology Needs Radiation Safety Programs
Turning tools into solutions: radiation dose management in 2016 - Philips
New Joint Commissions Radiation Dose Standards: What They Mean and How to Tackle Them
The Radiation Dose Dilemma: Risk, Rewards and the Real Story
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