Lead Shield Research Paper

While traditionally a lead wall was shielding radiography technicians, with the newer technology of handheld portable devices things have changed. As stated by RDE “the operator should stand 6 feet from the x-ray tube during the exposure.” This can’t be achieved because with handheld portable devices the operator is standing in the room with the patient and the x-ray device is in their hands. National guidelines recommend while using portable devices that the operator stand up to at least a distance of 1-2 m away from the patient. (FSI) In order for the radiographer to be considered safe they would need to be wearing a lead apron themselves, and lead gloves. With Nomad being the most known portable x-ray device, they’re provided with circular lead-filled shields attached to the end of the exit tube, which is known to help reduce scatter

According to Schiska, these include time, distance, and shielding. One must accurately take the x-ray in a timely manner. The patient should not be exposed to the radiation for more than what is recommended. Next, one must use protective shielding to protect themselves and the patient from the radiation. According to the book, Radiation Protection in Medical Radiography, "Protective shielding is a structure or device made of certain materials such as concrete, lead, or lead-impregnated material that will adequately attenuate ionizing radiation." It is vital that the lens of the eye, reproductive organs, and the breast should be shielded from the radiation (Sherer 166). Lastly, one must also be at the correct and recommended distance from the equipment to ensure safety. This is the most important safety procedure because if one is standing too close to the equipment while in use, serious medical issues will arise. Radiologic technicians wear lead aprons, thyroid shields, and special goggles to protect themselves from the radiation, but distance is the number one procedure to carry out accurately. Effective communication is also a useful safety procedure for both the technician and the patient. The technician must treat the whole patient rather than just the area of concern. The radiologic technician should behave as compassionate professional to increase the chance

The Canadian Shield is the largest of the physiographic regions covering more than half of Canada and consists of the provinces Quebec, Ontario, Northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Nunavut and over half of North West Territories. Apart from its occupations in Canada, portions of the shield also spans all the way to United States. As of now, the shield is fairly flat, along with rounded hills of rock that are roots of ancient mountains. Mainly igneous and metamorphic rock compose the shields land. From this rock many valuable minerals can be harvested from it, such as large quantities of lead, gold, copper, zinc, and other important materials. Resulting numerous cities and towns in the shield to rely on mining industries for jobs. As of mining,

Keeping track of the radiation doses by several employees is also a good way to prevent these medical errors. This action, as you said, would make people accountable for the administration of the treatment. Paradise Hill failed to implement these controls and as a result a preventable medical error was done.

The Canadian Shield is a landform Region that covers almost half of Canada, including Nunavut, Quebec, Labrador, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The Canadian Shield is a landform that is composed of igneous and metamorphic rocks. It has a huge boreal forest ecosystem, hence, a lot of lands in the Canadian Shield are covered with trees. Due to the amount of trees and the boreal forest ecosystem, a number of animals such as horned owls, black bears and geese liked to live in the lands of the Canadian Shield. The Canadian Shield is covered with small lakes, this makes fishing a great recreation for human to do. The letter “A”, “C”, “A”, “N”, “E” and “D” reflects the information above.

These procedures are in place for a reason and while the effects of radiation may not be seen overnight, if you are not protecting yourself, you may have health problems in the future because of your own negligence. Because there is a risk of being exposed to radiation in this job, knowing all the potential risks before you go out into the workforce will benefit a person immensely and will allow them to always be thinking of their own occupational dose and the possibility they might be getting irradiated and how they can prevent this as much as

160. This is quite a significant jump from 1987, when the NCRP Report No. 93 stated that a mere 11% was attributed to “medical imaging with ionizing radiation.”1 (pp169-170CT) In 2012, Kyle Morford and his colleagues reported that “over the past decade CT has increased from 4% to 11% of all diagnostic imaging studies.”2 (p45) This increase in number of scans come with an increase in patient dose. When a chest CT is performed, a patient gets a dose of 8 mSv. When a radiographic exam of the chest is done in two projections, the dose is around 0.02mSv. Of course, there are patient factors and contrast administration to consider, but the difference between the two modalities is roughly 400% increase.3 (p705) Knowing this, why is shielding not practiced in computed

This note is very important, because radiation is a very dangerous thing and you have to make sure you know the steps and for what you’re doing. Never take a risk.

For this reason patients must be aware that there is not a such thing as a safe amount of ionizing radiation. No matter how small the amount, x-rays produce ionizing radiation which is damaging to human tissue and therefore all procedures involving x-ray exposure to the patient are considered dangerous. This being the case, those who administer x-rays should be very knowledgeable about the energy they are dealing with, sadly this is not always the reality we live in. The article titled U.S. Technologists' Radiation Exposure Perceptions and Practices states that "Current literature documents excessive radiation doses from medical uses and a lack of necessary education for physicians, fluoroscopists (ie, cardiologists, radiologist, neurologists, and others trained to perform fluoroscopy) and patients concerning the benefits and dangers of medical radiation."5 This is a huge problem in the concept of patient safety when dealing with the use of ionizing radiation for medical procedures. If those administering the x-rays do not completely understand their dangers than how is a patient who most likely knows very little about the subject suppose to be the safest possible during the

These places would be surgery, fluoroscopy, staying in the room to hold the patient, and when performing mobile exams. While being involved in one of those tasks, you must prepare yourself. This includes wearing a lead apron that covers your chest and gonadal area, along with a thyroid collar, and even lead glasses. A long term effect of radiation exposure is cataracts. If you are constantly in the surgery room using the c-arm or o-arm, or you are performing fluoroscopy exams left and right, you should wear lead glasses to protect your eyes. While performing an exam in the department, you should always stand behind the lead wall before pressing the exposure button. This guarantees that the scatter radiation will not make its way to you. If you have a patient that needs to be held throughout the exam, a technologist should be the last person to hold; a family member, friend, or even someone outside of the department should help hold the patient because they are exposed to less radiation on a daily

Lead dust is dangerous to everyone because lead dust is so small it cannot be seen with the human eye (Ways to Reduce Lead Dust in Your Home or Apartment). Unsanitary shooting ranges around the United States leave toxins, such as lead dust and vapor, in the air and tables with lead on it (Ways to Reduce Lead Dust in Your Home or Apartment). A lack of air purification and circulation keeps contaminated air inside the facilities. Contact with lead can easily spread to homes and the outside world. Therefore, this leads to deadly consequences because lead dust cannot be seen and of the amount for a lethal dosage. The U.S. government needs to increase regulations and laws about the health and safety environment of recreational shooting ranges.

The incidence of radiation injuries is small compared with the number of procedures performed. More than 700,000 interventional procedures are being performed each year (Koenig). Any report that has been made about a skin injury has been reported to the FDA and has been investigated. The reports, usually received contain minimal information regarding the circumstances of the injury. The types of interventional procedures that resulted in reports of skin injuries were: cardiac catheter ablation, catheter placement and shunt placement (Shope). The injuries ranged by erythema to moist desquamation in others and to skin necrosis that required skin grafting.

The maximum permissible exposure for a person under 18 working with radiation is one-tenth the adult limit or not to exceed 500 millirems per year above the 300+ millirems of natural sources, plus medical radiation. This was established in 1957 and reviewed as recently as 1990. Like alcohol intoxication levels, levels of exposure to radioactivity (due to radioactivity deposited in the body) depend on a person's weight. A diagnostic tracer of one microcurie of radioactive calcium 45, given orally, would result in an exposure of 3.7 millirems for a 100-pound person, and half of that, 1.85 millirems, for a 200-pound person.

That is 4.5 years’ worth of background radiation1 (10). With pediatric patients receiving multiple exams, this amount of radiation can quickly add up and cause serious concerns later in life.

When assisting the patient, the radiographers have to make sure they provide radiation safety not only for the patient but also for themselves. There are many different methods to providing safety. With the equipment and radiation dosage, highest KVp and the lowest mAs is used to provide the minimum amount of dosage required for the procedure. Furthermore, safety can be provided by reducing the amount of rime in radiation area, by putting as much distance between you and the radiation source as possible. When performing a portable examination stand at least six feet from x-ray source and wear a lead apron. The patient should remove any jewelry or metal accessories that may interfere with radiation procedure and both the technologist and the patient needs to wear protective lead shields for example lead gloves, aprons, skirts and thyroid shields to protect the other body parts from the radiation. It is advised to also always wear monitoring device at collar level. Lastly, the technologist uses immobilization devices to hold the patients when needed.