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ABSTRACT
Nursing and radiology staff members can have a difficult time coexisting and communicating as they strive to provide quality care for patients. Misconceptions about safe radiologic practice within the practice of perioperative nursing occur because members of these professional fields are unfamiliar with each others knowledge and practice guidelines. This article provides an overview of radiologic practice and safety. AORN J 68 (Oct 1998) 596-602.
Nurses and radiologic technologists often acquire information about each other's area of expertise through observation, "folklore," and relying on the opinions of physicians. Even though nursing and radiology personnel work as a team to provide patient care, they are often not fully cognizant of the clinical education of the other. When they are poorly educated about radiologic safety, nurses may avoid being in the room when x-rays are being taken or assume that if they are not pregnant they need not concern themselves with radiation exposure. Without proper education and good communication with radiologic technologists, they may not be sure what the consequences of exposure are and therefore unable to protect themselves or their patients adequately. This article provides basic radiologic principles and information that nurses can use to provide better care for patients and to protect themselves from unnecessary radiation exposure.
TYPES OF RADIATION
Radiation is classified into three categories, each of which requires protective shielding (Figure 1).
Primary radiation. The primary beam, or useful beam, is termed primary radiation. Primary radiation is produced inside the x-ray tube isotropically (ie, with equal intensity in all directions) at a point source known as the anode target. The x-ray tube is a Pyrex glass vacuum tube that is encased in a lead-lined protective tube housing.' The protective tube housing helps contain the x-ray photons and prevents unnecessary overexposure of the patient and personnel near it. The protective tube housing reduces this leakage of radiation to less than 100 milliroentgens/hour at a distance of three feet from the tube.2
Of all the kinetic energy required to produce xray photons, 99.9% is lost in the form of thermal energy, or heat, inside the tube. The remaining 0.1% produces the x-ray photons.3 Thus, x-ray machines are very inefficient at producing ionizing radiation. The useful beam is the primary radiation that comes...