27 June 2019
POSITION STATEMENT
Radiation Safety Culture and Image Optimisation Teams
UK law requires medical radiation exposures for patients to be “justified”, that is, they should provide sufficient benefit to the exposed individual to outweigh the potential risk of the use of the radiation. It should also be “optimised” with procedures and techniques in place to keep radiation exposures as low as reasonably practical.
There is a vital requirement for stricter compliance and a more consistent approach to dose management and an integrated radiation safety culture within radiology and radiation oncology teams to ensure that neither image quality nor safety of the patient are compromised. The benefit of this culture change would be better diagnosis, more accurate treatment and better clinical outcomes for the patient.
This can be achieved by all services using radiation developing a multidisciplinary approach to radiation safety which includes radiologists, radiographers and medical physics staff. Services should seek to raise the profile of radiation safety across their organisations. Sponsorship from healthcare leaders and an acceptance of change is essential for legislative compliance and improved patient safety.
In particular, the BIR endorses the recommendation by the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) that departments form local Image Optimisations Teams (IOT) and identify champions within each discipline to raise awareness and lead on radiation safety education (See Figure 1).
These Image Optimisation Teams are considered essential to support departments to raise awareness and educate staff about radiation safety. Further, we call for more mandatory education and a united multidisciplinary approach to dose optimisation across the UK.
Figure 1: The role of the Image Optimisation Team: OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer), radiographer, radiologist and medical physicist working together.
Notes to Editors
About the British Institute of Radiology
The British Institute of Radiology is an international membership organisation for everyone working in imaging, radiation oncology and the underlying sciences.
Our aims are to:
- support the work of our members and their colleagues to achieve professional excellence
- provide continuous professional development for our multidisciplinary community
- publish cutting-edge research for our authors and readers across the world
- influence and connect with the wider professional sector.
For information on this paper please contact:
Carole Cross, Head of Communications and Partnerships, carole.cross@bir.org.uk
020 3668 2224
