Exposure measurement in the neighboring hospital beds during an x-ray procedure in hospitalization unit

There are lots of discussion about the exposure in hospitalization units in Brazil, especially around labor legislation and economic advantages of unhealthiness. With the attention focused on hospitalized patients, there were measured the exposure in neighboring beds of the patient submitted to an X-ray procedure with a mobile X-ray system that could be used to illustrate the discussion with consistent values. The most common X-ray procedure made in hospitalization units are chests images with techniques between 70 to 120 kV and 5 to 20 mAs. The measurement was made during routine exposure and simulations using a scattering phantom with Radcal AccuPro electrometer and 1800cc ionization chamber in a private hospital and a philanthropic hospital, both in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The ionization chambers are placed at 2 meters distance of the patient exposed of both sides during the routine procedure. During the simulation, a nylon phantom of 20 centimeters thick and 30 x 30 cm² size was placed on the bed, a typical exposure technique was used and the exposure was measured surrounding the phantom at 0.6, 1.0 and 2.0 meters distance for scattered radiation characterization. Initial results showed that the neighboring exposure at about 2 meters distance from the exposed patient bed have low values, even when exposure is integrated during the length of hospital stay. Therefore, the exposure in hospitalization units are very low compared to the exams doses. (author). (author)