Radiograhers at the forefront of patient safety

1. RADIOGRAPHERS AT THE
FOREFRONT OF PATIENT’S
SAFETY
300L RAD PRESENTATION

2. In the beginning….
There was Medicine…Blind with no eyes

3. Invention of Radiography
German physicist,
William Roentgen on
November 8,1896
during an experiment
accidentally discovered
an unknown radiation
he called X-rays.
WILLIAM ROENTGEN,
FATHER OF RADIOGRAPHY
FIRST RADIOGRAPH EVER
PRODUCED

4. MASSIVE ADOPTION OF X-RAYS
1920 ritter dentist radiography
Patient positioned for a chest radiograph in 1900s

5. X-RAY ( The beauty and the beast)
The Good part The bad part
Pelvis radiograph 1922 Dr Friedrich otto walkhoff, first dental radiograph

6. PATIENT SAFETY
•Patient safety is a health care
discipline aims to prevent and
reduce risks, errors and harm that
occur to patients during provision
of health care

7. How are Radiographers at the forefront of
patient safety?
1. Preventing radiation- induced hereditary effect and cancer
induction
2. The use of non- ionizing radiation
3. Infection prevention and control
4. Preventing Diagnostic errors

8. Preventing radiation- induced hereditary effect and
cancer induction
a) Justification ( assessing the request
form)
b) Lead Apron/ Gonad shielding
A request form
Lead Apron

9. Preventing radiation- induced hereditary effect
and cancer induction
d) ALARA PINCIPLE:
ALARA is an acronym that
stands for As low as
Reasonably Achievable
c) Collimation
X-ray of the skull

10. Preventing radiation- induced hereditary effect
and cancer induction
• E) Optimization
• Optimization entails avoiding repeat exposures as much as possible so
as to prevent the patient from overexposure to radiation.
• Ways optimization can be achieved include:
oProper patient preparation
oShort exposure time( to prevent motion blurness), etc.

11. The use of non- ionizing Radiation
ULTRASOUND Magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)

12. Infection prevention and control
• Routine decontamination
• One gown/patient and regular washing of the gowns
• Proper sterilization of materials used for interventional radiography
• Proper cleaning of transducers

13. Preventing Diagnostic errors
• Diagnostic errors in medicine are diagnoses that are delayed, wrong
or missed together.
• Radiographers play a role in reducing diagnostic errors by:
oUse of Digital radiography
oPicture Archiving and communication system(PACS).

14. Preventing Diagnostic errors
CORRECT USE OF MARKER
Radiographer induced
dextrocardia(wrong)

15. CONCLUSION
• The role of radiographers at the forefront of patient’s safety cannot
be overemphasized as we constantly evolve to make our patients and
the entire world benefit from radiation with minimal or no risks.

16. Thank you