Evaluation of radiation protection principles observance in radiology departments of Semnan University of medical sciences

Introduction: Most of people are exposed to ionizing radiation sources during their lifetime including background, cosmic or man-made beams like radiation used in nuclear medicine and radiology. Due to unavoidable use of ionizing radiation in diagnosis and treatment of diseases, designing and correct implementation of radiation protection principles in order to reducing its harmful effects for radiation workers, patients and patient's companions is necessary. Therefore the aim of this study is to assess the staff's observance level of radiation protection principles in radiology departments. Materials and MethodsIn this study, in order to evaluate the level of personnel awareness about the radiation protection principles and their observance as well as the protective equipment utility, a reliable and valid researcher-made checklist designed according to the radiation protection standards that have recommended by Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and then completed by personnel of radiology centers of semnan university of medical sciences. Acquired data were analyzed by SPSS software . Results: Based on the results, the awareness of personnel about protection standards was in the favorable level. The observance of the protection principles by the radiation workers of these centers was in accordance with recommended standards, the staff utilization level of radiation protection equipment is not acceptable. Generally the highest level of observance of protection measures was related to staff's protection and the lowest was for patient's companions Conclusion; The results show that the observance level of protective principles in the studied departments has been acceptable. However, radiation protection training courses with emphasis on the use of radiation protection devices are recommended to raise awareness of personnel, observance level of protection principles and ultimately, to meet AEOI standards