How Dangerous Is It For Staff And Patients To Exposed To X-Rays In Progress?

[Mobi]

When I went to Rajawithi hospital in Bangkok the other day, I was quite shocked when I went for an obligatory chest x-ray to find a line of patients INSIDE the x-ray room while X-rays were being undertaken. Two members of staff were also present.

I have never seen this before and I know that this is not a safe practice as it is exposing staff and patients alike to unnecessary radiation. I know it was being done to speed up the process, but shouldn’t someone, somewhere should tell them to stop?

Has anyone else seen this anywhere in Thailand, (or indeed in any other country), and just how dangerous is it? (I am more concerned for staff than I am for the patients, as their potential exposure is huge)

[Soutpeel]

There should be no people in the same room as the X-ray machine, when energised except the patient concerned, hosptial staff should have the lead bibs on if inside the room when the tube is energised

This would not be considered acceptable radiological practice, and radiographers should know this.

with the above being said, medical x-ray tubes are very directional and are highly collumated, therefore unless you are in the path of the primary beam, doses received would be realtively low in say a one off situation, but getting repeated low doses is where it would become risky ie medical personnel doing this day in day out.

Typical medical exposures are very short as you are using high kV and low mA.

It apeears to me that staff are taking shortcuts from acceptable procedures, which is not good

[maxme]

I heard you can get sterile exposing too much to X-ray.

[cdnvic]

I heard you can get sterile exposing too much to X-ray.

Repeated or long exposure to x-ray radiation can be harmful, but for a person getting the occasional x-ray the risk is negligible. Certainly the advantages far outweigh the risks.

[Soutpeel]

I heard you can get sterile exposing too much to X-ray.

Nope a complete fallacy.....it can over time cause genetic mutations with your "little fellows" due to repeated exposures without out proper precautions and the offspring produced could make you wish you were sterile.....

The amount of radiation needed to sterlise you, would be the same as the dose required to kill you outright, if I remember my nuclear physic's correctly the number was somewhere between 300-500 REM...ie we are talking in the magnitude of an atomic explosion.

[Sheryl]

It is not unusual (but of course not ideal) to settle for just having people remain behind the machine's path rather than totally clearing the room.

When I worked in an ICU where itr was simply impractical to leave the room or keep donning lead aprons, that's what we did.

The amount of radiation exposure to persons in the room but behind the beam is small. More of a danger to the staff since they are there all day every day than to the patients though would be very unadvisable for a pregnant woman to be there.

[Mobi]

That's reassuring - it is certainly something I have never come across before.

I wasn't as much concerned about the patients as the staff, who are there for many hours a day. Even the switch to start the X-ray was located in the same room - not outside as I have seen elsewhere.

Isn't cancer the main risk to undue x-ray exposure?

[Soutpeel]

That's reassuring - it is certainly something I have never come across before.

I wasn't as much concerned about the patients as the staff, who are there for many hours a day. Even the switch to start the X-ray was located in the same room - not outside as I have seen elsewhere.

Isn't cancer the main risk to undue x-ray exposure?

I believe Leukemia is the main one + a few other forms of cancer.....I do actually know a few people who developed Leukemia who were working with radiation for many years....coincidence ?

The "start switch" should be located in a separate shielded room with a lead glass window so they can see what is going on

[FBN]

If the control panel for the X-ray machine was inside the room, it is usually shielded by a lead protected wall; safe to be behind that..