Final answer:
A radiographer can reduce patient dose by optimizing technical settings, enhancing positioning accuracy with aids, ensuring patients are properly dressed-down, and providing clear instructions to minimize motion. Key principles of radiation protection—minimal exposure time, distance, and shielding—also play crucial roles in dose reduction.
Step-by-step explanation:
A radiographer can reduce patient dose in several significant ways:
- Technical factor selection: Tailoring technical settings based on patient habitus, positioning, and protocols can minimize exposure time and dose.
- Positioning accuracy: Using radiopaque sponges for more precise patient positioning helps in reducing repeated exposures due to motion artifacts.
- Dressing down the patient: Ensuring that patients remove any clothing or jewelry that might cause artifacts results in clearer images with fewer repeats.
- Clear breathing instructions: Providing coherent instructions can improve patient compliance and decrease motion during exposure.
Basic principles of radiation protection also include:
- Maintaining the minimum necessary exposure time.
- Maximizing distance from the radiation source.
- Using adequate shielding, such as lead aprons and surrounding X-ray tube shields.
Fast films and refined imaging protocols help to further reduce the dose by requiring less exposure time. The advent of sophisticated technologies, including computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), has provided more comprehensive views while being mindful of dose minimization strategies.