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Brittany Bakerink
Professor Mr. Brown
English 101
11/10/15
The changes with safety in Radiology
Over the past several years the field of Radiology has implemented safety
measures that have reduced the dangers to radiation exposure. Radiologists are mostly
very professional and have to be trained with their work because they are handling hurt
people in the hospital, and are dealing with over exposure in radiation.
Over the past fifty years things have changed with radiology. In the recent studies,
before the 1950’s Radiologists have been diagnosed to many cancers such as leukemia,
skin cancer, and even breast cancer. Radiologists really have a dangerous job whether the
safety measures have been reduced or not. According to Shinji Yoshinaga Et. Al
“Radiologists and radiologic technologists were among the
earliest occupational groups exposed to ionizing radiation and
represent a large segment of the working population exposed to
radiation from human-made sources. The authors reviewed
epidemiologic data on cancer risks from eight cohorts of over 270,
000 radiologists and technologists in various countries. The most
consistent finding was increased mortality due to leukemia among
early workers employed before 1950 when radiation exposures
were high.” (Yoshinaga Print).
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An individual must be careful with their patients during x-rays, as well as their selves due
to over-exposure of radiation. For Radiologists there was a high volume of tests due to
cancer from the research at International Agency for research on cancer. With these over
exposures to radiation, there has been found many deaths from exposure as a radiologist.
According to Professor R Wakeford with the International Agency for Research on
Cancer “The combination of the data from the various studies increases the power to
study associations between radiation and specific cancers. The combined analyses
covered a total of 2,124,526 person-years (PY) at risk and 15,825 deaths, 3,976 of which
were due to cancer. There was no evidence of an association between radiation dose and
mortality from all causes or from all cancers” (Wakeford Print). Finishing the
prerequisites an individual should consider looking into depth with their career field
they’ve chosen. Radiologists also really should consider how important there health is
and if they are willing to risk their health for a career.
In recent studies of the cancer risks of radiologic technologists they have done multiple tests
from before 1950 and after 1950 on radiologists, and in later days, the results of leukemia were
significantly lower.
According to Shingo Yoshinaga “Significantly elevated mortality
or incidence of leukemia was observed in the 1920–1939
subcohort of the U.S. radiologists (SMR 2.01), the 1897–1920
subcohort of the UK radiologists (SMR 6.15) and the pre-1970
Chinese x-ray workers (SIR 2.37), while leukemia mortality was
not significantly elevated among workers employed in later years.
In the U.S. radiologist study, leukemia mortality in the 1920–1929
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subcohort of radiologists was nine times higher than that in the
comparable subcohort of physicians who were not exposed to
radiation” (Yoshinaga).
Over several years there has been many studies in exposure to radiation. Statistically speaking,
there has been test results shown with many problems with exposure to radiation. In the 1950’s
there were dangers, and although the safety has gotten better, it is yet still very dangerous today.
According to J.K. Ryu et al. “The medical use of radiation has caused many problems, ranging
from the patient’s exposure to radiation to a biological effect on radiation workers. If a living
thing is exposed to radiation, its tissues or organs contract, leading to cell death or damage to
DNA components, which are the target molecules in cells. Therefore, the workers themselves
should be fully aware that the three principles of exposure prevention are time, distance and
shielding based on the ALARA principles set down by the ICRP” (Ryu Print). With that being
said, exposure to radiation is highly dangerous over a long period of time for radiologists as Rye
mentioned earlier.
Radiation experts who practice radiation in their career field are taking a risk with future
health problems. Not only health problems but, very dangerous health problems such as various
cancers. According to Jeffrey J. Patterson, DO “The trend through the nuclear age has been
toward the general recognition that there is no “safe” or “harmless” dose of radiation. The
National Research Council of the National Academies, in a comprehensive report entitled
“Health Risks from Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation,” BIER VII, recognizes that
radiation exposure has a linear relationship to the development of cancer” (Patterson Print).
Radiologists have a dangerous job due to continuous exposure to radiation and lower dose
radiation, because according to Jeffrey Patterson “there is no safe or harmless dose of radiation.”
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Radiologists have to be very professional and have to be trained with their work
because they are handling hurt people in the hospital, and are dealing with over exposure
in radiation. Radiologists have to also be extremely careful with their work because not
only are there patients are exposed to radiation, but they are as well. Over the past several
years the field of Radiology has implemented increased safety measures that have
reduced the dangers to radiation exposure. Although safety measures have been reduced,
it can’t stop exposure to radiation entirely.
After researching so much on the career field of radiologists, my feelings on this
matter was like a tug of war. At first I was relieved that the exposure to radiation was a
lot more dangerous in the early 1950’s compared to now. I found out quick that the
dangers are still here and it will always be as long as sick and hurt patients need to find
out what is really wrong with them. Unfortunately exposure to radiation is still pretty
dangerous for radiologists. It scares me because I will be majoring in Radiology when I
am done with my prerequisites. Right now I have about a year towards my studies in
prerequisites until I start my radiology program. I will also be starting my radiology
program within the next three semesters. I honestly think after all of my research for this
paper that there is a possibility of changing my major. Yet I still won’t jump to any major
decisions relevant to my major just yet. Additionally I have a cousin that is married to a
radiologist who received a Bachelor’s degree in radiology medicine. With that being said,
before I make any decisions based on my career field such as radiology technician I will
definitely consider asking him for advice with this. Although radiology may have dangers
to it, it does pay well. Radiologist’s annual pay for a radiology technician is $54,340. The
median salary per hour is $26.13. This salary is with an associate’s degree, and later on I
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plan on going back to school for my bachelor’s degree while working as a radiologist.
Radiologists with a bachelor’s degree in radiology make an annual salary of about
$100,000. Although radiology seems unsafe, I still may go through with my current goal
to become a radiologist. I still think I should do more research and possibly even talk to
radiologists currently working in the hospital and ask how they’re health is doing due to
exposure to radiation.
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Work Cited
Patterson, Jeffrey. “Environmental Health Policy Institute. “Physicians for Social
Responsibility.” Environmental Health Policy Institute. Wisconsin: Madison, October 31,
2012. Print.
Professor R Wakeford. “British Journal of cancer.” Centre for Occupational and Environmental
Health, Institute of Population Health. United Kingdom: Manchester, 2014. Print.
Yoshinaga, Shinji. “Cancer Risks among Radiologists and Radiologic Technologists:
Review of Epidemiologic Studies.” RSNA. 2004. Print.
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