The Evolving Role of the Medical Radiation Safety Officer

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (5) ◽  
pp. 628-636
Author(s):  
Kendall Berry ◽  
Deirdre Elder ◽  
Linda Kroger
Keyword(s):  
Radiation Safety ◽  
Medical Radiation ◽  
Safety Officer

scholarly journals The Role of the Radiation Safety Officer in Patient Safety

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas L. Morgan ◽  
Sandy Konerth
Keyword(s):  
Human Error ◽  
Radiation Safety ◽  
Senior Management ◽  
Medical Community ◽  
Radiation Doses ◽  
Imaging Procedures ◽  
The Public ◽  
Safety Officer ◽  
Radiation Exposure To Patients

The role of the Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) is to prevent unnecessary exposure to ionizing radiation and maintain necessary exposures as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA). The RSO is delegated broad authority throughout the organization by senior management. This authority includes permission to stop unsafe practices and identifying radiation protection problems, initiating, recommending, or providing corrective actions and verifying implementation of these actions. For the most part, these efforts are focused on maintaining radiation doses to employees and the public ALARA. Regulations do not address a role for the RSO in reducing radiation exposure to patients, except when unnecessary exposure is suspected due to equipment malfunction or human error. There is increasing concern about the risks of cancer and other effects from the use of medical imaging procedures. This chapter will discuss the tools and resources available to the RSO to educate members of the medical community and senior management on the need to manage radiation doses to patients so that the physician is able to obtain information necessary to properly diagnose and treat patients while avoiding unnecessary exposure.

Reduction of Adult Fingers Visualized on Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) Chest Radiographs after Radiation Technologist and PICU Staff Radiation Safety Education

2009 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 182-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer R. Tynan ◽  
Meghan D. Duncan ◽  
Brent E. Burbridge
Keyword(s):  
Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Pediatric Intensive Care Unit ◽  
Radiation Safety ◽  
Pediatric Intensive Care ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Chest Radiographs ◽  
Safety Education ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Medical Radiation

Purpose A recent publication from our centre revealed a disturbing finding of a significant incidence of adult fingers seen on the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) chest radiographs. This is inappropriate occupational exposure to diagnostic radiation. We hypothesized that the incidence of adult fingers on PICU chest radiographs would decline after radiation safety educational seminars were given to the medical radiation technologists and PICU staff. Methods The present study's objectives were addressed by using a pretest-posttest design. Two cross-sectional PICU chest radiograph samples, taken before and after the administration of radiation safety education for our medical radiation technologists and PICU staff, were compared by using a χ2 test. Results There was a 61.2% and 76.9% reduction in extraneous adult fingers, directly exposed to the x-ray beam and those seen in the coned regions of the film, respectively, on PICU chest radiographs (66.7% reduction overall). This reduction was statistically significant (χ2 = 20.613, P < .001). Conclusions Limiting unnecessary occupational radiation exposure is a critical issue in radiology. There was a statistically and clinically significant association between radiation safety education and the decreased number of adult fingers seen on PICU chest radiographs. This study provides preliminary evidence in favour of the benefit of radiation safety seminars.

The Nuclear Pharmacist as a Radiation Safety Officer

1989 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 276-279
Author(s):  
Samuel F. Liprie
Keyword(s):  
Radiation Safety ◽  
Environmental Safety ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Radioactive Material ◽  
Radioactive Materials ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
Exposure Monitoring ◽  
Policies And Procedures ◽  
Safety Officer ◽  
Radiation Exposure Monitoring

The Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) is responsible for the safety of the staff, visitors, and patients who may work with, or come into contact with, radioactive materials. This responsibility often calls for establishing and enforcing radiation safety policies and procedures. The position of the RSO may have even greater dimensions at facilities where medical research uses radioactive materials or where radioactive sources are being implanted in cancer patients for therapy. Since the nuclear pharmacist handles radioactive solids, liquids, and/or gases on a daily basis, his knowledge and experience ideally qualify him to perform the duties of an RSO. Those duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, monitoring for environmental safety and personnel radiation exposure, monitoring of incoming and outgoing radioactive shipments, and verification that all record-keeping activities, possession quantities, and uses of radioactive material are in keeping with the facility's radioactive material license. Basically, the RSO is responsible for the safe use of any radioactive material from the time it arrives until the time it is removed for waste disposal. The following article reviews some of the duties of the RSO, and shows how easily the nuclear pharmacist can assume this role.

Radiation and Environmental Aspects of Advanced Nuclear Energy

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 113-121
Author(s):  
I. Linge ◽  
S. Utkin
Keyword(s):  
Health Risks ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Nuclear Energy ◽  
Radiation Safety ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Normal Operation ◽  
Rapid Reduction ◽  
Depth Analysis

The article focuses on the role of radiation criteria and its evolution in the structure of arguments underlying the establishment, operation and development of nuclear energy. It demonstrates that the dominant role of radiation criteria should be reconsidered to allow broader consideration of environmental and other factors associated with sustainable development. Based on in-depth analysis of certain aspects relevant for the mutual development of nuclear energy and radiation and environmental safety requirements, the paper shows that fully-fledged regulatory and technological systems have been deployed to date to ensure the radiation safety of workers and the public: these systems cover all the tasks required to be addressed to limit the technogenic exposure under normal operation. At the same time, an unprecedented gap was noticed between the actual role of radiation factor across human health risks and its perception by the overwhelming part of society. In the near future (some hundred years), urgent tasks in the field of radiation safety will be driven, on the one hand, by the need to ensure the internal consistency of the national security system addressing health risks in general, and on the other, by global processes in the world economy associated with slow growth in energy demand, rapid reduction in the share of fossil fuels in almost all sectors of the economy among the developed countries, including transport, growing general environmental trends towards material recycling and decarbonization. The study shows what should be the attitude to radiation risks so that the nuclear energy could successfully meet the requirements arising from these trends. In this regard, the paper also provides some rational interpretation of the principle suggesting that no undue burden should be imposed on future generations.

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