Occupational radiation doses among nurses working in several medical departments in Saudi Arabia: a five-year national study

There has been an increase in the numbers of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, which, in turn, has increased the occupational radiation doses delivered to healthcare practitioners. The aim of this study is to estimate a baseline for the occupational effective doses for five consecutive years (2016–2020) among nurses working in several medical departments in Saudi Arabia. A total of 3249 nurses were monitored from 2016 to 2020. Occupational effective doses were estimated using thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLD-100 chip) made of lithium fluoride (Li natural) LiF:Mg.Ti materials. An analysis of the dosimetry data revealed that the overall mean annual effective dose (MAED), range of the effective doses and the mean collective effective dose for nurses in selected departments during the study period were 0.85 mSv, 0.06–13.07 mSv and 46.51 man-mSv, respectively. The MAEDs for nurses were obtained from various departments, including the operating room (OR; 0.81 mSv), general X-ray (0.90 mSv), cardiac catheterization laboratory (cath-lab; 0.97 mSv), endoscopy (0.79 mSv), computed tomography (CT; 0.77 mSv), fluoroscopy (0.81 mSv), dentistry (0.92 mSv), angiography (0.91 mSv), nuclear medicine (1.01 mSv), urology (0.68 mSv), radiotherapy (0.67 mSv) and mammography (0.77 mSv). The MAED for cath-lab nurses was significantly higher than that for OR, CT and endoscopy nurses. The occupational doses among nurses in Saudi Arabia were below the recommended dose limit of 20 mSv. However, to further reduce the occupational dose, we recommend training and continuing education in radiation protection for nurses involved in radiological procedures.