Congress:
EuroSafe Imaging 2016
Keywords:
Action 6 - Education and training in medical radiation protection, Action 3 - Optimisation, diagnostic reference levels, image quality, Action 2 - Clinical audit, Action 6 - Clinical audit tool for imaging, Action 2 - Clinical diagnostic reference levels (DRLs), Action 8 - Radiation protection training and learning material
Authors:
R. Kavanagh, P. Gilligan, M. Lewis, B. Moran, S. Foley, C. O'Connor, O. O’Connor, D. E. Malone, D. Sheppard
DOI:
10.1594/esi2016/ESI-0032
Background/Introduction
Ireland held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from January to July 2013 and during this presidency,
it was announced that the text that would ultimately form the European Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom (hereafter referred to as “the Directive”) had been agreed upon by the Council’s Working Party on Atomic Questions [1].
The Directive was unanimously adopted by the Council of the European Union (EU) on 5 December 2013 [2] and each member state of the European Union has until 6th February 2018 to transpose the Directive into national legislation.
The Directive,
laying down basic safety standards for protection against the dangers from exposure to ionising radiation,
emphasizes the need for justification of medical exposure,
strengthens requirements for reporting doses from radiological procedures,
emphasizes the use of diagnostic reference levels and the availability of dose-indicating devices in radiological imaging.
The European Society of Radiology (ESR) issue the EuroSafe Imaging Call for Action,
a 12-point action plan to achieve EuroSafe Imaging’s objectives of promoting appropriateness in radiological imaging,
maintaining radiation doses within diagnostic reference levels (DRLs),
using the ALARA principle and promoting the use of up-to-date equipment; all of which align well with the Directive.
This poster will focus on the activities currently being undertaken in Ireland to ensure compliance with the Directive,
specifically focusing on EuroSafe Actions 2,
3 and 6,
which concentrate on clinical audit,
DRLs and education in radiation protection,
respectively.