Radiology Forums

hjhogle · Moderator Joined: 23 May 2006 Posts: 609 Location: CT

Take a deep breath, she did say that she was a recent graduate.

I can only speak for myself, but I had some wonderful mentors in the early years - folks who DID know all about radiation exposure/protection as well as many other things.

I'll bet that none of us graduated knowing everything that we know today ... that's why she posed the question here.

hjh, RT

tomas · Joined: 03 Jul 2008 Posts: 10

Of course you are on point. The student is not to blame. I am an RSO and RT/UT specialist in the industrial sector. It just baffles me the lack of formal Rad safety knowledge which , to me, is most of their responsibility.

hjhogle · Moderator Joined: 23 May 2006 Posts: 609 Location: CT

Absolutely agreed. As the industry becomes more complex, the information/training attempts to thoroughly cover much more sophisticated material .. but the length of training hasn't changed in years.

Unfortunately, something doesn't get covered as well as we might like. That's not to say that programs can allow radiation safety/protection to suffer - but many students today seem to be less aware of policy/regulatory/administrative issues and dose limits. They ALSO seem to not know to whom they should turn in their work environment. I'm aghast that most of the technologists in my current facility (a large teaching institution) don't have a clue who their RSO is, or what the role of the RSO is.

So this is a great opportunity for us to teach!
hjh, RT