Congress:
EuroSafe Imaging 2020
Keywords:
Not applicable, Quality assurance, Education and training, Radiation safety, Education, Digital radiography, CT, Radioprotection / Radiation dose, Radiation physics, Action 10 - EuroSafe Imaging Stars
Authors:
N. Mahmood, C. Law, R. Curcio, M. Hierath, A. Brady, A. G. Rockall, G. Frija, L. Bonomo, D. Howlett
DOI:
10.26044/esi2020/ESI-04577
Background/introduction
The European Council Basic Safety Standards Directive (BSSD) 2013/59 Euratom details updated legal requirements for radiation protection in departments across Europe. This was transposed in 2018. Compliance with BSSD is now not only good medical practice but also a legal requirement1.
More specifically the BSSD highlights the key role of clinical audit in protection from the dangers associated with exposure to medical ionising radiation and the legal responsibility of carrying out audit in accordance with national procedure. As such improving clinical audit is of high priority for the ESR and several steps have been taken to aid radiology departments in compliance with the requirements. Not only did this topic form a large part of the Eurosafe Imaging Call for but additionally the ESR have produced an updated clinical audit guide and toolkit (Esperanto) to assist radiology departments2.
In May 2019 a survey of the Eurosafe Imaging Stars departments was conducted. The aims of this survey were as follows:
- To evaluate the audit infrastructure currently in place in radiology departments which are part of the Eurosafe Imaging stars network
- To assess awareness and uptake up the ESR’s clinical audit guide Esperanto
- To identify areas needing improvement.