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Radiation Shielding Research Paper

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Radiation Shielding Is for All Patients Not Just Those of Reproductive Age In the medical field, basic patient care is something that should be practiced every day. In hospitals and clinics around the United States, one will find groups of people who have undergone years of training and are there to hopefully provide the best patient care they can. Yet every day thousands of practitioners seem to have forgotten the basics of not only protecting patients but themselves as well. More specifically, in the field of radiology, it seems that one of the basics of patient and technologist protections, shielding, has become second place, and used in a manner that deviates from its intended purpose. After witnessing many misuses and even no use …show more content…

Technologists will either not shield at all or base their shielding on whether the patient is of childbearing years or not. Although shielding is used to protect the gonadal regions, future and present technologists have been taught that shielding is used for protection from unnecessary radiation for many other reasons and not just to protect the reproductive organs. On more than one occasion, during observations at many sites, the lack of shielding during procedures will be mentioned and more times than not, the reply is typical that it is within the site's protocol as the patient is not of childbearing years. As a student, one should never question the procedures of the site or technologists and it is normally not brought up after the initial inquiry, however, this does not mean that the shielding protocol of the site is in the best interest of the patient. Some sites are even worse in their practice of shielding, typically only shielding young females and few other patients. But, how does one, as a student, go about trying to change this bad practice and not interfere or question the people who are providing their time to mentor this

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