Radiology workload analysis – role and relevance in radiation protection in diagnostic radiology

It has been demonstrated that data entered by radiographers into Radiology Information Systems (RIS) can be used as dose audit data, removing the necessity for radiographer to separately collect data for patient dose audit purposes. Access to RIS data also provides the potential for much more analysis. The data entry process itself can be audited, and is now routinely performed at a small number of hospital sites in the North-West region of the UK. An analysis of the number of examinations performed by a single tube is possible together with the generation of dose audit data. This information is useful for departmental managers to investigate why certain rooms are being used more than others or for certain types of examinations. The work a tube does can be compared with life expectancy enabling better planning within the tube life cycle. In addition, the RIS contains extra information concerning the operator. Once again, the departmental manager can use this analysis to look at operator work patterns and scheduling. This will assist any investigations in the case of accidental exposure of staff. This paper begins by introducing the term ‘tubeload’ and then gives examples of analyses that have been performed using data from a large hospital over a three-month period. Results are shown detailing the initial types of analyses that have been performed on single rooms, single operators and the site overall. The results are then discussed with emphasis on what further analyses could be performed and how this information could be used as a basis for decision making in radiation protection. Keywords— Tubeload, RIS, dose audit, radiology workload