Environmental Radiation Exposure of Staff During Portable Chest X-ray in the Intensive Care Unit of Golestan Hospital in Ahvaz

A portable chest X-ray is the most commonly employed imaging method in the intensive care unit (ICU). As such, the purpose of this study was to examine the radiation exposure of staff during portable chest X-rays (CXR). The present research is a cross-sectional descriptive epidemiological study that was performed in the intensive care unit of Golestan Hospital in Ahvaz from November 2020 to February 2021. In this study, the cumulative radiation dose was determined with direct measurement by film badge and indirect calculation by using the output parameter. For this study, 47 portable CXRs were performed in the ICU of the aforementioned hospital. In the direct measurement method, the cumulative dose from all film badges was reported to be below 0.05 millisievert (Negligible dose). Mean cumulative doses obtained from indirect calculations were 1.493±0.0251 for the medicine room, 1.3671±0.012 for the nursing station, 5.749±0.331 for the lead shield room, 0.989±0.006 for the Staff rest room, 2.438±0.0211 for the patient ward. The lowest and highest cumulative dose calculated indirectly was related to the staffing rest room and the behind of lead shield regardless of shield protection respectively. According to the results of this study, the risk of radiation exposure to ICU staff from portable CXR is very insignificant as compared to international dose limits established for public and exposed workers.