Congress:
EuroSafe Imaging 2021
Keywords:
Radioprotection / Radiation dose, CT, Plain radiographic studies, Radiation safety, Education and training, Quality assurance
DOI:
10.26044/esi2021/ESI-15779
Methods or background
Background:
Investigations involving ionising radiation are integral to almost every patient's pathway through hospital. Although the risk is small, in the United Kingdom (UK) an estimated 100-250 deaths occur each year from cancers directly related to medical exposure to radiation [1]. On top of this, the quantity of investigations being carried out is rising exponentially - in the year 2018 5.15 million CT scan were performed in the UK [2].
National public bodies, such as the General Medical Council (GMC), and national legislation, such as the Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations (IRMER), set out clear standards on what is expected from clinicians in order for them to continually put the care and safety of their patients first.
GMC-UK ‘Good Medical Practice’ states doctors should be ”competent and keep their professional knowledge and skills up to date” [3].
IRMER 2017 states we should aim to keep doses in diagnostics “as low as reasonably practicable” for their intended use [4].
It is therefore important that clinicians have the required knowledge of relative radiation and fatal cancer risk for common imaging investigations, in order for them to have informed discussions with patients and radiologists and to help prevent unnecessary exposure.
Methods:
- Cohort: Acute Medical Team at the Royal London Hospital, UK (30 clinical staff - mixed grades).
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- Standard: all doctors requesting and directing investigations involving radiation should have knowledge of the risk and relative radiation doses.
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- Method: knowledge based questionnaire on relative radiation risk for commonly ordered radiological investigations and long term fatal cancer risk
- The first question was multiple choice format and asked clinicians to identify the relative radiation risk of commonly ordered investigations compared with a standard chest x-ray
- The second question was multiple choice and asked clinicians to estimate the lifetime additional risk of fatal cancer from commonly ordered investigations.
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- Target: 100% awareness of dose estimation for commonly requested examinations.
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- Intervention: departmental presentations, posters, computer requesting system (CRS) alerts
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- Re-audit: using the same knowledge based questionnaire