Repeated exposure to X-rays: how does the RDM solution help protect patients undergoing frequent medical imaging?

Exposure of the population to ionizing radiation for diagnostic purposes keeps on growing. Concerned about this evolution, healthcare professionals are now seeking to improve protection against radiation, in particular by applying the principles of justification and optimization. Although radiology techniques have become essential for making diagnoses, medical imaging examinations can become harmful to the patient, especially when they are performed repeatedly. Due to the rising number of these examinations, professionals are asking questions about the radiation-induced risk to patients, including the risk of developing cancer.

The questions that arise are the following: How to increase the protection of patients undergoing frequent medical imaging? What actions can healthcare professionals take in the context of repeated exposure to X-rays?

A patient dose management solution seems to be essential to addressing these issues. Indeed, to better protect patients requiring frequent irradiating examinations, the Radiation Dose Monitor (RDM) solution offers key benefits that allow healthcare professionals to:

• Display all information relating to the patient at each examination (e.g. traceability of cumulative doses)
• Instantly access the patient’s dose history before the examination (decision-making tool)
• Follow the patient throughout his/her pathway: pre-examination (via the Worklist page) and/or post-examination
• Collect all patient data, especially when the patient undergoes examinations in different facilities
• Stay alert to patient safety: monitoring examinations and patients in real-time based on Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRLs)
• Identify the patients likely to receive relatively high doses, thanks to the keyword tags by medical indications
• Raise awareness of all those responsible for the dose cycle about the actions to be taken to apply the principle of optimization and to improve the management of patients undergoing recurrent examinations

Thanks to RDM, healthcare professionals can collect a wealth of patient dose information and increase protection against radiation through justification and optimization. Thus, the whole objective of the solution is linked to radiation protection, understanding and risk assessment – especially in the context of repeated radiation examinations. RDM helps healthcare professionals take better care of patients, thanks to tools and indicators that, with a single click, show the caregivers the next actions that they can take, always with a view to improvement.