Radiation Protection in Radiology Departments of Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospitals, Ahvaz, Iran, 2015

Background: Application of ionizing radiation in many fields especially in medicine is growing, and can cause adverse health effects. Objectives: The current study aimed to evaluate the radiation protection principles in radiology departments, based on national standards. Materials and Methods: The current study was conducted in all radiology departments of the teaching hospitals in Ahvaz, Iran, and their radiation protection status was investigated using Audit technique. For this purpose Audit checklist was prepared and essential information gathered by observation, interview with radiology department managers, and documentary surveying. At the end, standard situations were classified in three levels: poor (? 50%), medium (50 - 75%),s and good (75 - 100%). Results: The mean of radiation protection in the studied radiology departments was 70.53%. The highest and lowest levels of radiation protection were in quality control and suitable ventilation, respectively. Radiation protection was evaluated as medium in 71.4% and good in 28.6% of the studied radiology departments. Conclusions: The state of observed radiation protection principles was relatively in the weak level in the studied radiology departments especially in facilities such as ventilation system, radiography entrance, and darkroom situation. More important reason was usage changing of sections as radiology billet from related organizations.