TH‐A‐202‐01: Risks in IR and Establishing a Patient Safety Program

A patient safety program is critical to proper medical management in interventional radiology or cardiology departments. While radiation is only one part of the overall patient safety picture it is a vital and often overlooked aspect of any safety program. One of the main goals of a radiation safety program is to prevent deterministic radiation effects if possible and identify effects when they occur so appropriate medical treatment can be administered. The development of such a program requires that the physicist understands possible deterministic effects quantities used to assess the radiation dose to a patient and current practice guidelines and regulations that address radiation dose in an interventional radiology setting. Learning Objectives: 1. Understand the quantities and methods that can be used to estimate peak skin dose; 2. Understand possible deterministic effects that can result from interventional radiology procedures; 3. Understand current practice guidelines and regulations governing patient safety in interventional radiology; 4. Learn how to set up a patient safety program including pre‐procedure intra‐procedure and post‐procedure phases.