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. 2021 Apr 21;1(1):e5.
doi: 10.1002/deo2.5. eCollection 2021 Apr.

A questionnaire survey on radiation protection among 282 medical staff from 26 endoscopy-fluoroscopy departments in Japan

Shiro Hayashi  1   2 , Mamoru Takenaka  3 , Hirofumi Kogure  4 , Takayuki Yakushijin  5 , Hirotsugu Maruyama  6 , Yasuki Hori  7 , Toshiyuki Yoshio  8 , Kenji Ikezawa  9 , Tadayuki Takagi  10 , Satoshi Asai  11 , Kazuhiro Matsunaga  12 , Kengo Matsumoto  2 , Hidetaka Tsumura  13 , Shinjiro Yamaguchi  14 , Tetsuya Sumiyoshi  15 , Koji Nagaike  16 , Yuzuru Tamaru  17 , Kazuo Hara  18 , Toshio Fujisawa  19 , Ichiro Oda  20 , Ken Ohnita  21 , Motohiko Kato  22 , Hiroko Nebiki  23 , Tatsuya Mikami  24 , Akihiro Nishihara  25 , Satoshi Egawa  26 , Ryuki Minami  27 , Makoto Hosono  28 , Tsutomu Nishida  2
Affiliations

A questionnaire survey on radiation protection among 282 medical staff from 26 endoscopy-fluoroscopy departments in Japan

Shiro Hayashi et al. DEN Open. .

Abstract

Background and aims: It is essential for endoscopists, technologists, and nurses to understand radiation protection. However, protective equipment usage is still low, and there is little awareness of radiation protection in practice.

Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey on radiation protection from January to February 2020. The participants were medical staff, including medical doctors, nurses, and radiological and endoscopy technician in endoscopy-fluoroscopy departments. The questionnaire included 14 multiple-choice questions divided among three parts: background, equipment, and knowledge.

Results: We surveyed a total of 282 subjects from 26 institutions. There were 168 medical doctors (60%), 90 nurses (32%), and 24 technologists (9%). Although almost all staff members (99%) always wore a lead apron, only a few wore a thyroid collar (32%) and lead glasses (21%). The rate of wearing a radiation dosimeter was insufficient (69%), especially among doctors (52%). A few subjects knew the radiation exposure dose of each procedure (15%), and slightly over half had attended lectures on radiation protection (64%) and knew about the three principles of radiation protection (59%). Protection adherence did not differ by years of experience, knowledge of fluoroscopy, awareness of radiation exposure doses, or attendance at basic lectures on radiation protection. However, medical doctors who were aware of the radiation exposure dose of each procedure were significantly more likely to wear dosimeters than those who were not (p = 0.0008).

Conclusion: Medical staff in endoscopy departments in Japan do not have enough radiation protection equipment or education.

Keywords: education; endoscopy; medical staff; questionnaire survey; radiation protection.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this paper.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Rates of use of protective equipment for radiation exposure according to job title
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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