henryd Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 is there a danger of excessive exposure to radiation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted March 31, 2015 Moderator Share Posted March 31, 2015 everyone who works in radiology wears little exposure indicators, which are screened at regular intervals. the short answer to your question is "no" if you take appropriate precautions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JMPA Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 long answer, those little indicators mean diddle. i left my indicator on a CT scan accidently for a whole shift and when turned in i heard diddle. so essentially if you are exposed to high dose radiation the administration does not want to acknowledge it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoRyou Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 long answer, those little indicators mean diddle. i left my indicator on a CT scan accidently for a whole shift and when turned in i heard diddle. so essentially if you are exposed to high dose radiation the administration does not want to acknowledge it. Seriously? That's scary!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator ventana Posted April 1, 2015 Moderator Share Posted April 1, 2015 Very loaded question..... with out a good answer I did Rad for 2 years left as I got the feeling I was getting to much exposure....... I know of 3 different IR doc's with Cancer - just coincidence?? (I only know 4 IR doc's) We don't have good data on exposure - most of it is the Nuclear Bomb exposure extrapolated to lower dosing. We don't know if their is a "safe" level of exposure - hence why I NEVER let a pregnant female in my lab while fluoro was on We certainly can say that there is great steps made to figure out what is reasonable, but the one thing we know is radiation gives you cancer. At the same time it was likely the most amazing two years of my career - simply outstanding what I was doing! I wanted to still have kids so i decided it was time to move on....... I am sure there is some RT/PA with more knowledge as I, but I had done a lot of reading about the topic as it was bothering me and it seemed clear as mud.... certainly less exposure is better.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted April 1, 2015 Moderator Share Posted April 1, 2015 I used to work with a doc who grew up in Hiroshima, Japan, yup when we dropped the bomb there. he refused to wear any kind of lead ever. he laughed about it and said if was going to get cancer from radiation that horse had left the barn. as far as I know he is still alive today. I know a lot of docs in general who end up getting cancer. I wonder how much is lifestyle related, diet, etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoRyou Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 I know a lot of docs in general who end up getting cancer. I wonder how much is lifestyle related, diet, etc Don't forget genetics ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted April 1, 2015 Moderator Share Posted April 1, 2015 sure, genetics is a factor but it seems more docs get cancer than their non-doc siblings. a "rich lifestyle" and poor exercise for many likely plays a role as well(environmental factors). ever heard the saying "there are more old drunks than there are old doctors". some truth in that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nonlegit Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 I remember an EXTREMELY anecodotal type posting on SDN one time, so take this with a BIG grain of salt as I have no data on any of this.... I read in the IR forum or something that basically, those docs tend to bail and call it a career much earlier than most other docs, as they maybe felt a little uncertain about the radiation. It was a money post, if I remember correctly. So it seemed like a genuine thought, as it was more about career earnings than radiation exposure. I personally limit my exposure as much as possible. I don't even stay in the room anymore through plain films in our traumas, unless they are exceptionally unstable, lead or not. Meanwhile, we got RTs that love to bag in the scanner - WHY? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radtash Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 When I worked as a technologist the radiologists always tried very hard to avoid running Flouro or being in the room when it was on. Patient procedures that use fluoroscopy are probably what radiology groups are going to want the physician assistant to do so that they can stay in the reading room reading films. Just a thought. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whoRyou Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Speaking of scans, apparently there’s a news frenzy about whether providers are ordering too many CT scans. According to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, doctors are ordering way too many CT scans. Those “unnecessary” CT scans are putting the lives of patients at risk. The article cites a “straw poll” of pediatric radiologists (which appears to be a panel discussion in which the audience was apparently able to vote on questions posed by the panel discussants) who opined that 30% of the CT scans ordered were unnecessary. Doctors order 30% too many CT scans and they are needlessly risking our lives! It looks like if the disease doesn't kill you, the CT scans will ... Tellingly, a straw poll of pediatric radiologists suggested that perhaps one third of CT studies could be replaced by alternative approaches or not performed at all. then later However, if it is true that about one third of all CT scans are not justified by medical need, and it appears to be likely, perhaps 20 million adults and, crucially, more than 1 million children per year in the United States are being irradiated unnecessarily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.