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As a result of finding that personnel working in the cardiovascular laboratory of a 500 bed hospital had radiation exposures higher than the recommended levels, a 12 month study was done to determine the reasons and to implement solutions. Twelve physicians were double badged, while routinely monitored personnel such as nurses and technicians were single badged. Procedures performed in the lab were documented, and the fluoroscopy time for each patient was recorded. Badge readings from all physicians were obtained and compared with the number of types of procedures in which each physician was involved. The fluoroscopic time ranged between 3 to 102 minutes. Badges worn at the waist and collar showed up to 560 to 2520 millirems, respectively. The average film badge equivalent and fluoroscopic times for each double badged physician in the study showed poor correlation between personal film badge readings and the number of procedures or length of fluoroscopy. Required guidelines for optimization were listed.
Health Physics, 70(4):563-567, 1996. (9 references)
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