Keywords:
Workforce, Quality assurance, Education and training, Safety, Radiation safety, Education, Ultrasound, Nuclear medicine conventional, CT, Radioprotection / Radiation dose
Authors:
Y. Al-Obudi, R. S. Malliwal; London/UK
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2019/C-0724
Conclusion
There appears to be a significant deficiency in radiation awareness amongst junior doctors.
Despite more years of medical experience,
there seems to be no overall difference in radiation awareness.
The majority of participants underestimated the radiation doses and the associated lifetime cancer risk for most radiological investigations.
This may result in patients undergoing an increasing number of radiological investigations,
and hence an overexposure to ionizing radiation.
Furthermore,
it is essential for referrers to inquire about pregnancy to avoid unnecessary foetal exposure to ionising radiation.
Although the majority of participants (84%) inquire about pregnancy prior to requesting an investigation,
there is still a significant proportion (38%) that does not do this routinely.
In conclusion,
improving a clinician’s awareness of radiation through education and raising awareness is essential to ensure appropriate requests for radiological investigations and in avoiding unnecessary patient exposure to ionising radiation.
The following recommendations have been made:
- Incorporate radiation awareness in the induction teaching for both foundation doctors and GP trainees.
- Raise awareness of radiation safety and the importance of prior pregnancy questioning during departmental and junior doctors meetings.
- Familiarise doctors with ‘iRefer’ – an essential radiological investigation guidelines tool designed by The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR).
- Introducing a reminder into the electronic requesting system when requesting ionising radiation investigations.
- Distribute educational posters around different departments to educate doctors about radiation awareness and using the RCR iRefer.