Designing a PET/CT department to minimize technologist radiation exposure

2012 Objectives Determine the impact of a newly remodeled expansion of the PET/CT department on technologist radiation exposure. Methods When our department acquired our first PET/CT scanner we designed the facility to accommodate the patient flow for the PET scanner. We quickly learned there is a significant difference between PET and PET/CT in regards to patient flow which impacts technologist radiation exposure. Expanding our PET/CT facility to add a second scanner gave us the opportunity to fix our mistakes. The expanded facility included patient prep rooms separated by lead lined walls located closer to the restroom, and had advanced patient monitoring system. After 18 months in the new facility we reviewed technologist exposure working in the new area and compared this to exposure we had previously measured. Results Adding a second scanner resulted in a 12 percent increase in patient volume comparing the 9 months before the redesign to the 9 months after the new facility was open. During this same period there was a 4 percent decrease in PET technologist exposure. To identify where the decrease in exposure occurred we compared the average exposure of specific tasks before and after the redesign. The technologist exposure resulting from interaction with the radioactive patient was chosen. Exposure to the technologist from the radioactive patient before the redesign averaged .33 mrem after the remodeled this was decreased to .23 mrem. This was a 30 percent decrease in technologist exposure which is significant given the fact 64 percent of exposure to a technologist comes from the radioactive patient. Conclusions The majority of radiation exposure to the technologist comes from interacting with the radioactive patient. Having uptake rooms which are lead lined, close to restroom, and amenities such as video monitoring of the patient leads to less time with the radioactive patient and decreased technologist exposure without sacrificing patient safety or department throughput