Chapter 10,12,15 Rad protection
When a properly calibrated automatic exposure control (AEC) is not employed to obtain a uniform selection of technical x-ray exposure factors, well-managed imaging departments?
Make use of standardized technique charts that have been established for each x-ray unit in that facility.
Which of the following statements is true?
Medical imaging personnel hardly ever receive equivalent doses that are close to the annual occupational effective dose limit.
Who should determine the exact shielding requirements for a particular imaging facility?
Medical physicist
Which of the following is frequently a problem in diagnostic pediatric radiography?
Patient motion
In a hospital setting, which of the following professionals is expressly charged by the hospital administration with being directly responsible for the execution, enforcement, and maintenance of the ALARA program?
Radiation Safety Officer
The ALARA concept adopts an extremely conservative model concerning the relationship between
ionizing radiation and potential risk.
When the time spent in a higher radiation area is reduced or limited, occupational exposure
is also reduced.
If a certain dose of radiation produces a skin burn, a higher dose of radiation will cause the skin burn to be more severe; however, a dose below the threshold level for skin burn will
not demonstrate the effect.
The term as low as reasonable achievable (ALARA) is synonymous with the term
optimization for radiation protection (ORP).
The primary function of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is to
oversee the nuclear energy industry.
A blotchy radiographic image that results when an insufficient quantity of x-ray photons reaches the image receptor is called
quantum noise, or mottle.
If a patient asks a radiographer a question about how much radiation he or she will receive from a specific x-ray procedure, the radiographer can
respond by using an estimation based on the comparison of radiation received from the x-ray to natural background radiation received.
Scattered radiation to the lens of the eyes of diagnostic imaging personnel can be substantially reduced by the use of protective eyeglasses fitted with optically clear lenses that contain a minimal lead equivalent protection level of
0.35 mm.
In a team approach to patient care, various participants1. assume responsibility for their areas of expertise.2. emphasize the importance of communication throughout the team.3. rotate as the person in charge of the team.
1 and 2 only
Occasional exposure for the purpose of education and training is permitted, provided that special care is taken to ensure that the annual effective dose limit of ____________ is not exceeded for persons under the age of 18 years.
1 mSv annually
The annual effective dose limit for individual members of the general population not occupationally exposed is ___________ for continuous or frequent exposures from artificial sources other than medical irradiation and natural background and ____________ for infrequent annual exposure.
1 mSv; 5 mSv
Motion controlled by will is classified as voluntary motion. Lack of such control may be attributed to which of the following?1. The patient's age2. Breathing patterns or problems3. Physical discomfort4. Fear of the examination5. Mental instability
1, 2, 3, 4, 5
The millisievert (mSv) is equal to
1/1000 of a sievert.
To ensure that the lifetime risk of occupationally exposed persons remains acceptable, an additional recommendation is that the lifetime effective dose in mSv should not exceed
10 times the occupationally exposed person's age in years.
Determine the cumulative effective dose (CumEfD) limit to the whole body of an occupationally exposed person who is 46 years old.
460 mSv
Which of the following are required by The Joint Commission for fluoroscopy?1. Annual education of staff in dose reduction techniques2. Method for highlighting patients that may be close, or have exceeded, a set dose threshold level.3. Documentation of fluoroscopic procedure radiation doses
All the options
Which of the following must always be the first step in protection of the reproductive organs?
Adequate and precise collimation of the radiographic beam to include only the anatomy of interest
Analysis of an imaging department's repeat rate1. provides valuable information for process improvement.2. helps minimize patient exposure.3. improves overall performance of the department.
All of the options
Compared to general diagnostic radiography performed in an x-ray room, imaging personnel receive the highest occupational exposure during which of the following procedures?
All of the options
Effective protective actions take into consideration1. both human and environmental physical determinants.2. technical elements.3. procedural factors.
All of the options
Neglecting to use standardized technique charts necessitates estimating the technical exposure factors, which may result in1. poor-quality images.2. repeat examinations.3. additional and unnecessary exposure of the patient.
All of the options
Which of the following are functions and/or responsibilities of the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)?1. Functions as a monitoring agency in places of employment, predominantly in industry2. Regulates occupational exposure to radiation through Part 1910 of Title 29 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (29 CFR 1910)3. Responsible for regulations concerning an employee's "right to know" with regard to hazards in the workplace
All of the options
Which of the following are responsibilities of a health care facility's administrative personnel to ensure an active and detailed radiation safety program?1. Delegate operational funds in the budget for the radiation safety program2. Oversee the development of policies and procedures the radiation safety program3. Provide the equipment needed for starting and for continuing the radiation safety program
All of the options
Which of the following x-ray procedures increases the radiographer's risk of exposure to ionizing radiation compared to general diagnostic radiography performed in an x-ray room?1. Mobile C-arm fluoroscopy2. Interventional procedures that use high level control fluoroscopy3. Mobile radiographic examinations
All of the options
Working in conjunction with their partners in other agencies, the FDA intends to take action to1. promote safe use of medical imaging devices.2. support informed clinical decision.3. increase patient awareness.
All of the options
Consequences of ionization in human cells include1. creation of unstable atoms.2. production of free electrons.3. creation of highly reactive free molecules (called free radicals) capable of producing substances poisonous to the cell.4. creation of new biologic molecules detrimental to the living cell.5. injury to the cell that may manifest itself as abnormal function or loss of function.6. production of low-energy x-ray photons.
All the options
Diagnostic efficacy includes1. determining if an imaging procedure is justified.2. producing optimal quality images with the least radiation exposure to the patient.3. adhering to radiation safety guidelines.4. revealing the presence or absence of disease in a patient.
All the options
Which of the following is a method of explaining radiation to the public?
BERT
Why should the selection of technical exposure factors for all medical imaging procedures always follow ALARA?
Because radiation-induced cancer does not appear to have a fixed threshold, that is, a dose level below which a person would have no chance of developing this disease.
What unit is used to measure radiation exposure in the metric International System of Units?
Coulomb per kilogram
Which of the following provides the basis for determining whether an imaging procedure or practice is justified?
Diagnostic efficacy
Which of the following radiation quantities is intended to be the best overall measure of the biologic effects of ionizing radiation?
Effective dose
Typically, people are more willing to accept a risk if they perceive that the potential benefit to be obtained is
greater than the risk involved.
During which of the following x-ray examinations should a radiographer always wear a thyroid shield?
Fluoroscopy and x-ray special procedures
During a radiographic examination, which of the following combinations of technical exposure factors reduce patient radiation dose?
Higher kVp, lower mAs
X-rays are a form of which of the following kinds of radiation?
Ionizing
Which of the following is a form of radiation that is capable of creating electrically charged particles by removing orbital electrons from the atom of normal matter through which it passes?
Ionizing radiation
Which of the following statements below is true?
It appears that no safe dose level exists for radiation-induced malignant disease.
If the intensity of the x-ray beam is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source, how does the intensity of the x-ray beam change when the distance from the source of radiation and a measurement point is tripled?
It decreases by a factor of 9 at the new distance.
Which of the following terms involves a random effect of ionizing radiation?
Stochastic event
Any image that must be repeated because of human or mechanical error during the production of the initial image is considered to be a repeat image. What effect does a repeat image have on the radiation dose received by the patient?
The patient's skin and possibly the gonads, if they were in the included imaged area, receive a double radiation dose.
The cardinal principles of radiation protection include which of the following?
Time Distance Shielding
Reducing the field size to the anatomic features of interest not only reduces patient exposure but also
increases completed image quality by decreasing scatter
Which part(s) of a diagnostic x-ray unit should not be touched while a radiographic exposure is in progress?
Tube housing, collimator, and high-tension cables
The reason for discontinuing patient gonadal shielding and fetal shielding in diagnostic radiology is based on research that the use of such shielding may jeopardize the benefits of the radiologic examination because
an incorrectly placed shield within the collimated x-ray beam when an automatic collimator is used, can result in the lead in the shield obscuring anatomic information or interfering with the AEC system.
The essential concept underlying radiation protection is that
any organ in the human body is vulnerable to damage from exposure to ionizing radiation.
Whenever scattered radiation decreases, the radiographer's exposure
decreases.
The responsibility for maintaining radiation monitoring records for all personnel and for providing counseling for individuals who receive monitor readings in excess of allowable limits belongs to the
designated radiation safety officer of a health care facility.
Occupational exposure of the radiographer can be kept as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) through individual monitoring and other protective measures and the use of protective devices. Therefore, because exposure from radiation-related jobs will not alter the ______________________, radiation workers may receive a larger equivalent dose than members of the general population.
genetically significant dose
Regarding exposure to ionizing radiation, patients who are educated to understand the medical benefit of an imaging procedure are more likely to
suppress any radiation phobia and be willing to assume a small chance of possible biologic damage.
In the event that a pregnant patient is inadvertently irradiated
the radiation safety officer or the medical physicist should perform the calculations necessary to determine fetal dose.
Electromagnetic radiation travels or propagates through space in the form of a wave but can interact with matter as a particle of energy called a photon. This dual nature is referred to as
wave-particle duality.