Radiation Protection Awareness of Healthcare Staff – An Essential Issue in Medical Uses of Ionizing Radiation

With the rapid advancement in medical use of ionizing radiation for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, the importance of radiation protection for healthcare professionals involved in the performance of radiological procedures, along with patient protection has become more prominent. Accordingly, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has established several safety standards and provides training materials and other resources to support improving radiation protection competence of the staff. In this regard, the general safety guide (GSG-7) provides general guidance on occupational radiation protection programmes. For the medical applications, this is complemented by the Specific Safety Guide (SSG-46) as well as safety reports, training materials, posters and other informational resources on the Radiation Protection of Patient (RPOP) website. The aforementioned resources offer informative advice related to radiation protection of staff and patients in diverse fields including radiotherapy, diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, interventional procedures and dental radiography. This paper aims to review the available IAEA publications, training materials and other resources to build knowledge and awareness of medical staff on radiation protection as an essential issue in medical uses of radiation. (author)