8 Changes to Increase Radiation Patient Safety

Researchers at Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic reduced patient radiation exposure by 40 percent over three years through a combination of education, best practices and equipment alterations, according to a study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Interventions.

Here are eight changes the staff at Mayo Clinic made to decrease patients' radiation exposure from imaging tests, according to the report:


Practice changes
1. Making intraprocedure radiation dose announcements.

2. Reporting procedures for which the air-kerma exceeded 6,000 mGy. (Air-kerma is a patient radiation exposure metric reported by modern interventional X-ray systems, according to the report.)

3. Including procedure air-kerma in the clinical report.

4. Establishing compulsory radiation safety training for fellows.

Technical changes
5. Establishing standard X-ray imaging protocols.

6. Increasing use of X-ray beam spectral filters.

7. Reducing the detector target dose for fluoroscopy and acquisition imaging.

8. Reducing the fluoroscopy frame rate to 7.5 s−1.

More Articles on Patient Safety:

Study: Mayo Clinic Reduced Patient Radiation Exposure by 40%
Study: Structured Sign-Out Improves Communication During Neurology Patient Handoffs

National Patient Safety Organization Creates Board Based on IOM Recommendation

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