Abstract
Nuclear medicine and radiation therapy offer diagnostic and therapy services. These fields have grown in recent years by expanding coverage for the increasingly earlier treatment of serious diseases. In healthcare institutions, because of the risks, managers must provide continuing education at different levels in bioethics and biosafety according to their radioprotection program, and they must manage the legal exigencies concerning the health followup of the team members and patients. Health professionals work in these environments treating patients with different procedures and radionuclide schemes. The undesirable biological effects, such as stochastic and/or deterministic effects of ionizing radiation, may affect people's quality of life. The morbidity can vary from common problems, such as inflammation, to major unseen problems, such as mutations, with different risks of disease severity. Ultimately, death may occur after large accidental exposures. Managers need to consider psychological problems, side effects and iatrogenic diseases in patients and occupational diseases and accidents that can vary from small to large scale. Nuclear medicine and radiation therapy professionals need special education and training courses. The educational tools that are proposed here were based on Brazilian legislation for radiotherapy and knowledge of quality control, biosafety and bioethics. Good management and minimization of risk are necessary, and a high level of comprehension is required for the health professional staff member responsible for the health of individuals and an environment that guarantees success in both radiation therapy and nuclear medicine services. Some tools can be used to train professionals to minimize occupational risks and risks that threaten patient health. Checklists were prepared on a few topics concerning issues and recommendations regarding the containment of radionuclides and avoiding contact with reagents, waste and patient secretions and exposure during and after patient care.
Highlights
Radiation therapy is the medical application of ionizing radiation for therapeutic purposes
In the preparation of this proposal, we created some checklists with points of interest in bioethics, biosafety and legal issues considering available recommendations from different Brazilian governmental institutions, such as the Brazilian Commission on Nuclear Energy (CNEN), Brazilian Ministry of Health (Ministério da Saúde, abbreviated MS), Ministry of Labor and Employment (Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego, abbreviated Ministry of Work and Employment (MTE)), Ministry of the Environment (Ministério do Meio Ambiente, abbreviated MMA), and international institutions such as International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) American Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) [1,2,9,10,11,12,13]
The proposal includes one questionnaire and five checklists focused on educational issues concerning biosafety, bioethics and legal requirements for radiation therapy and nuclear medicine
Summary
Radiation therapy is the medical application of ionizing radiation for therapeutic purposes. Nuclear medicine is a medical specialty that uses unsealed sources for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes [1,2,3,4]. The effects of ionizing radiation exposure should be considered by the medical staff of health care services with a preventive focus. Everyone should be aware of the type and dose of radiation or contamination that is possible for an individual participating in an occupational activity or receiving diagnostic protocols and/or treatment. To prevent hazards from different well-known effects, such as stochastic, deterministic, somatic and genetic or hereditary effects due to ionizing radiation, managers of healthcare institutions must follow rules set by agencies that control health protection for workers, citizens and the environment
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