Keywords:
Education and training, Radiation safety, Equipment, Conventional radiography, Radioprotection / Radiation dose, Radiographers, Paediatric
Authors:
A. Maguire, K. Matthews; Dublin/IE
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2019/C-3096
Results
The high response rate (81%) permits generalisation of some but not all results to paediatric practice nationwide.
Radiographers indicate that in theory they are aware of the dose reducing benefits of beam filtration for paediatric patients (Table 2),
reassuring that the basic principles of beam filtration are understood.
However,
a distinct lack of knowledge concerning the appropriate beam filtration that is applied practically was also evident from survey responses.
Only five X-ray rooms were reported to have 2-3mm Al equivalent total filtration,
although the IEC [8] states that X-ray tube filtration in diagnostic radiology must be at least 2.5 mm Al equivalent by law. Since the regulatory periodic licensing of X-ray installations monitors total filtration,
and it is unlikely this would be below the minimum requirement,
the conclusion has to be poor awareness of filtration levels in X-ray equipment.
In addition,
while the option to use additional beam filtration is present in 22 rooms (Fig. 4),
added beam filtration is applied in only 12 rooms some of the time (Fig. 5).
It seems that while the option for additional beam filtration does exist,
radiographers do not generally apply additional beam filtration for paediatric examinations.
However,
when it is applied,
the amount of added filtration is in keeping with current literature [8,9],
ranging from 0.1 to 0.2 mm Copper with 1-2 or 2-3mm Aluminium (Fig. 4).
Generally,
radiographers do not consider beam filtration as their specific responsibility (Table 3),
which to an extent explains the poor awareness of beam filtration in general.
There is a general consensus (84% of respondents) that updated advice on the use of additional beam filtration for paediatric examinations using direct digital radiography is necessary (Table 2). Further training in this area is suggested by respondents and could be beneficial to optimisation generally.