Radiation risk for staff

The international accepted maximum permissible radiation exposure for people subjected to radiation in their jobs (such as those who work at an x-ray institute or in a nuclear medicine department, e.g. RTA) is 50 mSv per year or should not exceed a total dose of 100 mSv within a 5 year period. For the general population the annual value according to the guidelines of the ICRP (International Commission on Radiation Protection) is 1 mSv, which on an individual basis 5 mSv - e.g. caring for the sick - is permissible.

There are sufficient examinations and measurements which show that nursing staff (which is considered here as "general population") are not subjected to any significant radiation load whilst caring for patients, who are undergoing a nuclear medicine examination. Even in direct contact with the patient over a longer period only results in minimal radiation exposure for the nursing staff (e.g. after bone scintigraphy 2-5% of the maximum annual dose for persons not exposed to radiation in their jobs) For the most part this is still a lot lower and is at 0.05 - 0.5% of the natural annual radiation load. It is therefore insignificantly low.

During diagnostic examinations the risk for staff is, as mentioned already, low. Even a short distance between the nursing staff or doctor and patient enormously reduces the radiation dose. This fact is important for people accompanying the patients to nuclear medicine examinations. Although a danger to the foetus of pregnant female accompaniments is probably unlikely, it seems sensible to for those pregnant and their foetus to avoid unnecessary radiation load. A pregnant lady accompanying a patient should therefore be avoided. Likewise pregnant nursing staff should avoid nursing duties with direct patient contact for the first 12 hours after a radiopharmaceutical has been administered for diagnostic purposes.

There is no need to separate patients from other patients since the distances between them are already too great to result in significant radiation load for neighbouring patients. For a patient who has received radionuclide therapy the information sheet that has been given to the patient must be studied.