Dose practice and principles of optimisation and safety

Essential for all members of the imaging and radiation oncology team including radiographers, radiologists, oncologists, physicists, technicians and others.

"Really good, well presented with a good range of teaching aids", Lucy Hossen, Head of Nuclear Medicine Physics, Royal Brompton Hospital

What do people say about the course? More testimonials here

On completion you will:

• Understand the principles of dose optimisation and safety
• Be confident that doses to both staff and patients are ALARP while ensuring optimum image quality for patient diagnosis and management
• Understand the hazards of radiation to patients and staff, including deterministic and stochastic effects, as well as background radiation and the relationship between dose and risk
• Learn how and why radiation dose is measured and recorded, how to calculate and estimate dose, and apply that to dose audits and reviews.
• You will build on the underlying principles and explore how to fulfil your practical responsibilities safely and effectively
• Learn how to practically apply the theory of patient radiation dose to get the best image
• Define dose optimisation, strategies for optimising dose, modality specific dose optimisation, and dose optimisation for particular patient groups such as paediatric and pregnant patients
• Understand staff dose limits, methods of measuring radiation dose, and the importance of wearing dosemeters and PPE

• Practical measurement of X-ray staff doses and practicalities of limiting dose to ensure safe working practices.

Digestible sessions, test questions throughout and two 20 question assessments, each awarding a CPD certificate.

Stop and start as you wish with up to one year to complete the course

Illustrations, animations, live action, and recorded interviews, with narration providing clear explanation at every step.

"Easy to listen to, easy to use and easy to understand", Liz Benson, Clinical scientist, MPE, RPA 

"A very useful refresher for radiographers, radiologists and clinicians as well. Highly recommended", Bassey Ndiyo,  Radiography Doctoral Researcher, University of Exeter

What do people say about the course? More testimonials here

• Group packages available to ensure the whole team is effective and safe
• Gain consistent high standards across your department
• Make efficiencies on your training budget with no need for travel or accommodation expenses

This course provides 4 CPD credits in accordance with the CPD Scheme of The Royal College of Radiologists, and has been approved for professional accreditation by the College of Radiographers until March 2026.

Course content

Session 1: Hazards of radiation relevant to patients and staff 1
Session 2: Hazards of radiation relevant to patients and staff 2
Session 3: Patient radiation dose from medical exposures 1
Session 4: Patient radiation dose from medical exposures 2
Session 5. Optimisation of patient radiation dose 1
Session 6. Optimisation of patient radiation dose 2
Session 7. Optimisation of patient radiation dose 3
Session 8. Staff radiation dose from medical exposures 1
Session 9. Staff radiation dose from medical exposures 2

See a sample clip here:

Written by some of the UK’s foremost radiation safety and dose professionals working in clinical settings, peer reviewed, and with contributions from leading experts.

Course Contributors