Doctor's knowledge of radiation exposue

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>]

With the recent discussion of patient dose, and Bill's proposal to 

revise Part 35 for patient notification, I found the following 

article, posted on the UK Health and Safety Executive website of 

interest. Other topics can be found in the Radiation Protection News 

at:  http://www.hse.gov.uk/radiation/ionising/rpa/rpa24.htm



DOCTOR’S KNOWLEDGE OF RADIATION EXPOSURE  



A recent study reported in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) 

concluded that doctors’ knowledge of radiation doses to patients in 

radiological investigations remains poor. In a study of 130 doctors 

at two hospitals in Oxford and South Wales, none of them knew the 

approximate dose of ionising radiation (IR) received by a patient 

during a chest X Ray (0.02mSv), or even the units of radiation 

measurement used, though ten were consultant radiologists.



The doctors were asked to estimate doses of IR for other 

investigations relative to that for a chest X Ray (CXR) e.g. a plain 

abdominal X Ray exposes the patient to 75 times the dose in a CXR, a 

CT scan of the abdomen is equivalent to 400 CXRs whilst a lumbar 

spine X Ray is equivalent to 120 CXRs and so on. Five doctors (4%) 

gave no correct answers, six (5%) did not realise that ultrasound 

does not use IR and eleven (8%) did not know MRI does not involve IR. 

Overall, 97% of the answers were underestimates of the actual dose 

e.g. a patient undergoing an arteriogram of the leg would receive 400 

times the radiation of a CXR but the average mean answer was 26 

times.



The paper points out that an estimated 100 to 250 deaths occur each 

year from cancers directly related to medical exposure to IR.



Reference: Shiralkar S, Rennie A et al. Doctors’ knowledge of 

radiation exposure: questionnaire study. BMJ 2003;327:371.





------------------------------------

Sandy Perle

Vice President, Technical Operations

Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc.

3300 Hyland Avenue

Costa Mesa, CA 92626



Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100  Extension 2306

Fax:(714) 668-3149



E-Mail: sperle@globaldosimetry.com

E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net



Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/

Global Dosimetry Website: http://www.globaldosimetry.com/



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