Thursday, October 18, 2007

Morbid

Our latest review section is actually full of some really morbid stuff. For example did you know that it takes more than 5000 rads of radiation to fry your central nervous system, with death occurring in 0-3 days. If I got blasted with 5000 rads I would be hoping for closer to the 0 day mark than the 3 myself. Yikes! Also, it only takes about 200 rads of full body exposure to destroy your bone marrow, circulating blood cells and lymphatic tissue, causing death in 10-60 days. Yeah, happy thought, huh.

Anyway, the moral of the story, kids, is PROTECT YOURSELF from radiation at work and clinicals. Granted the amounts of radiation we work with are extremely low compared to the numbers I quoted above, but.....Think of it this way, too much radiation protection can never hurt you, but too little protection sure can.

Also, the three body parts that are most sensitive to radiation are the lenses of your eyes, your thyroid and your gonads. So don't forget those lead aprons and thyroid shields when you're in fluoro. And why not pick up a pair of leaded glasses (or BCGs), you can even write them off on your taxes as a work expense. Something to think about. We wanna keep all you radiographers out there happy, relatively unirradiated and able to reproduce. ;-)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

When patients ask me why I'm wearing lead (ie. on portables or during fluoro) I tell them that, even though it's a low dose of radiation, too much over time is dangerous. I then give them the example of using sunscreen. A little bit of sun won't hurt you, but over time and without protection it will. So, over a 30 year career, wearing lead for every exam where you're close to the source is a good thing :P

Glad to see you still have the blogger up and running!

Mary said...

Ugh my name was highlighted last month for a "higher" dose. I don't even remember what it was, but since it was a recordable dose, it was high enough.

I just have to remind myself that unlike some of my co-workers (who also do CT), I tend to go to surgery alot...so that's expected.

I should get some lead glasses though. It'd make me feel a little better...

Unknown said...

If I could interject one of the greatest radiation protection tools for technologists during fluoroscopic procedures; stand behind the Radiologist :-)

Anonymous said...

I've been following your blog for almost 2 years while I was on the wait list to get into my local program. Don't leave me hanging...did you graduate? Have you taken the boards? What are they like? Details man!!! :-)

Gizmo said...

NICE Blog :)

Melanie said...

Did you graduate?! I've been following your blog from the beginning and I MUST know! UPDATE MAN!!! :-)