Final answer:
Nurses must adhere to principles of radiation safety, including time, distance, and shielding, when providing care to clients with cesium implants in brachytherapy treatments. The cesium seeds, used for targeted radiation therapy, will decay and become less radioactive over time.
Step-by-step explanation:
The nurse should provide care to a client with a cesium implant from a distance that adheres to radiation safety principles, usually termed as time, distance, and shielding. These principles are critical in brachytherapy, which involves the placement of radioactive material directly into or near the tumor. Commonly, the radioactive seeds used, such as cesium-131, are designed to deliver a high dose of radiation over a short distance to destroy cancer cells while limiting exposure to surrounding healthy tissues.
When caring for patients with such implants, nurses use lead shields and maintain a safe distance whenever possible to reduce their exposure to radiation. They also limit the time spent in close proximity to the patient. The seeds, about the size of a grain of rice and made of titanium capsules, may be left in place permanently because the radioisotope will decay, becoming substantially less radioactive following the treatment period.