Radiation Protection and Safety Program - Case Study Example

Radiation Protection and Safety Program Executive summary The radiation and safety program will aim at educating the students on the various precautions that they ought to adhere to so as to prevent them from suffering the risks associated with the radiations. From the statistics it is clear that most of the students in King Saud University and other neighboring medical and nursing colleges normally go for their medical practice at the King Khalid University Hospital. Most of these students do not have efficient knowledge as far as dealing with radiation is concerned. Even though some especially those who have taken radiation therapy classes have a little know how they still need more guidance so as enable them deal with radiation machines effectively. This program will offer classes both mobile and in specified rooms to the students in King Khalid University Hospital as well as to other colleges and universities that neighbors the hospital and other students who came into the hospital for practice or internships. The program will mainly focus on the students because they are the ones who have been found to suffer from the effects of these radioactive materials during their internships. Moreover, due to their uninformed use of the machines they end up treating patients without taking proper precautions thus leaving a possibility of the patient suffering the risks associated with the radiations. Therefore the expected benefits from the program will include saving the students’ lives from the radiation risks and protecting the patients from suffering the dangers that are associated with lengthy stay under the radiations among others. The main activities that the program will undertake will entail protecting the public (especially the patients), those who work directly with radiations (especially students) and protecting the environment too. It will also ensure that proper response to the radiation emergences is well accorded to the affected persons, investigating radiation incidents and carrying out surveillance of radiation contamination in the environment. Table of Contents Executive summary 1 Table of Contents 3 Introduction to the program 4 Situation Analysis 4 Rationale 5 Target Group 8 Goals and Objectives 8 Program Activities: 9 Timeline 10 Evaluation 11 Budget and Resources 12 Reference 15 Introduction to the program Radiation protection safety program seeks a grant worth AU$150,000 so as to fund its activities in educating the students various precaution measures they ought to take in order to help them stay safe and secure from the effects of the radiations. The program is scheduled to take place as soon as possible in order to reduce the prevalence of the disorders that are associated with these radiated rays especially to the human cells. Studies have shown that high doses of ionizing radiations exposure results to a large number of cells being killed in one’s body. For this reason this program has been introduced so as to take care of persons who spend long hours in places where the exposure of these radiations is inevitable. Radiation protection and safety program will be conducted among the students who take medical courses so as to let them acquire knowledge and information pertaining to the effects of rays emitted by radioactive materials used in hospitals to carry out various operations. This program will help in preventing the students and patients who are severely affected by the radiations without them knowing. Situation Analysis Recently radiation has been a fatal problem in the health centers especially to the nurses who go to the major hospitals for practice. Radiation is part of everyday activities in health sector in Australia. The use of X-Ray machines and other radioactive materials is inevitable in the health sector. For instance these materials are used to enhance the production of diagnostic pictures of patients for dentists and physicians as well as other medical practitioners. They also enhance various industrial, commercial, and engineering functions in the laboratories. Moreover these materials are used for various domestic activities in the household, for example, in smoke detectors. Therefore radioactive materials are widely used in the country for their numerous importance, nevertheless, these materials if used improperly or uncontrollably especially in the hospitals they can be very harmful to human beings. The radiation protection and safety program whose aim is to ensure that radiation and radioactive materials are properly used in hospitals especially by the students who go for internships in those hospitals, will help them acquire the advantages of radiation without suffering from unnecessary risks in their bodies. This program will mainly focus on protecting the public, those who work directly with radiations and protecting the environment too. It will also ensure that proper response to the radiation emergences is well accorded to the affected persons, investigating radiation incidents and carry out surveillance of radiation contamination in the environment. Rationale Radiation exposure either in small doses or in large doses leads to cell mutation that ends up to development of cancerous cells (Rahman, Bishara, Ackerly, He, Jackson, Wong & Geso, 2009). According to studies it has been shown that cancer is genetical and hereditable meaning that it can be passed from one generation to the other (Blyth & Sykes, 2011). Furthermore, the radiations are quite dangerous to fetus, research show that very low doses of the radiation subjected to fetus in her mother’s womb may lead to very perilous disorders such as malformation and reduced IQ to the child. (Einstein, 2012) In Australia the number of children who are born with developmental problems due to the effects of radiations has continued to increase each day. While those children who die before the age of one year has also rose to more than 10% according to the Australian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) report (International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, 2009). Such factors have led to very unbearable conditions to the lives of many in this country. (Schauer & Linton, 2009) Radiation protection and safety program will have a positive impact on the above-discussed effects of the radiation (Vano, Gonzalez, Fernández & Haskal, 2008). There have been efforts to reduce the effects of these radiations through various agencies and interventions, however it seems that the efforts have not yet bore fruits to an extent of lowering the effects of radiations experienced especially in the hospitals. (Sinclair & Foley, 2009) The expected benefits from the program includes effective application of the radioactive machines by the practitioners, protection of the public as well as the medical practitioners from the radiations and protection of the surrounding from the side effects of these radiations among others. Feasibility Assessment: A pilot study carried out in the country reveals that, most of the universities and colleges in Australia are now taking their students through training on how to operate radioactive machines before they are allowed to go for their internship (Preston, Mattsson, Holmber et al., 2009). However it is not all universities and colleges that are able to afford to take students through such training, therefore most students end up going for their internships without clearly knowing how to protect themselves from the radioactive materials as well as protect others. This creates a gap for the program to be implemented. There have also been Health and Wellbeing Programs (HWP), which are advocating for both employees and employers to ensure that they take care of the health of each individual working in organizations. This intervention, which is also being supported by the government, may cause the hospitals to put in place other measures to ensure that no one is left at the risk of suffering the effects radioactive materials. Such a move by these organizations may make the program unproductive. (Hausleiter, Meyer, Hermann, Hadamitzky, Krebs, Gerber & Achenbach, 2009) To ensure that the program is embraced in the country, major stakeholders will be involved in creating the awareness as well laying strategies on how to make the program more productive and effective in the country. Such stakeholders as; heads of colleges and universities, senior medical doctors in the field of radiation medical practitioners as well as the government officials who have the mandate of advocating for improved lifestyles in all sectors in the country, will be highly involved in the implementation of the program. In addition, student leaders will also be involved so as to ensure that they blow the whistle among their fellow students on the importance of the program. Another major issue that will be considered is the community that is within the area under which the program is scheduled to commence. This community will be involved by being given a chance to propose some of the students whose parents cannot afford to pay for their training elsewhere. Moreover the program will incorporate forums that will involve various people so as to educate them the need for radiation protection and safety program in the country. Target Group This program will mainly target the students who are in their final year in medical courses. The program will also consider those who have already completed their courses but they have not yet gone to any hospital for their internship. No discrimination will be inculcated while enrolling the students for the training both male and female will be enrolled in the same criteria. Age will also not be a limiting factor to those who will be considered for the radiation protection and safety program. In nutshell, provided a person has completed his or her medical course or if they are in their final year they will be allowed to be part of the program, irrespective whether they are married or not old or young. All ethnic groups will also be allowed to take part in the program as well as those from other countries. It is therefore clear that the radiation protection and safety program is aimed at benefiting everybody in the community. Goals and Objectives The goal of the radiation protection and safety program is to help in controlling and reducing the risk effects of using radioactive materials in the health sector by the students who are in internship. This will enable them acquire the benefits of this materials without them suffering from their negative effects especially on their bodies. Studies have revealed that most of the persons who are recently suffering from disorders which are as a result of radioactive materials, are normally those people who at one time served as radiation medical practitioners. It has further been noted that these people could have acquired the problems in their early stages in their professional. This could have occurred during their internships in the radiation medical practice. The main objectives will include; 1. Reducing the rate of prevalence of disorders among students that result from radiation by at least 30% by the end of the next six months. 2. Enable students to handle machines that have radioactive materials with the precautions that they deserve so that they are able to obtain the benefits effectively. 3. Provide students with the relevant information as it pertains to knowledge involving the radioactive machines so that they will be able to treat the patients properly without subjecting them to the risks of radiation. Program Activities: a. Submission of the grant proposal The program is scheduled to commence as soon as the proposal is submitted and accepted. This will mean that the program has been recommended for implementation. The implementation is scheduled to take approximately five months. b. Oversee committee Once the proposal has been accepted a committee of five persons will be appointed to oversee the achievement of the program’s goals and objectives. The committee will then hire ten tutors who have specialized in radiation medical practice. c. Acquisition of training materials The committee will be required to obtain the relevant materials so as to ensure that the training will run smoothly as planned. This materials will include laptops for the tutors, writing materials for the students especially notebooks and pens among others. d. Acquisition of a classroom In addition the committee will also organize on what times the training will be carried out as well as the place where it will be conducted at. e. Acquisition of a bus For the mobile training, a bus will be hired in which students who are taking their studies from a distant can be reached easily. The bus will also be used to ferry students to and fro their colleges to the hospital for demonstration on how to handle the radioactive machines in the hospital. However the demonstration will be done two months later after undergoing the training. f. Launching a website In addition, the committee will be supposed to create a website for the program so as to ensure that those students in other regions can benefit from its activities. However, the website will be created after evaluating the outcomes of the program and the extent to which the set goals and objectives will have been attained. g. Evaluation of the program After every month the committee will evaluate the progress of the program and report to the donors. Timeline Activities Scheduled time Comments Preparation and Submission of the grant proposal October, 2014 Expected grant notification November, 2014 Oversee committee November, 2014 Hiring tutors December, 2014 Acquisition of training materials December, 2014 Training commence January, 2015 Acquisition of a bus March, 2015 Evaluation of the program March, 2015 Launching a website April, 2015 Prepare report for the results May, 2015 Evaluation After the first two months of training the students will be allowed to go into the hospital to carry out various activities that entails the use of radioactive machines. During this time surveillance will be conducted on their areas of work to detect the existence of unnecessary existence radioactive materials in the environment. Moreover, after a month in the practice the radiation medical practitioners who will be working with the student intern will be asked to give a report concerning the effectiveness of the student as far as the radiation protection is concerned. The rating scale will range from 1 to 10; a score of 10 will show that the student is able to handle the radioactive materials with care and precaution as required. In addition the rate of spread of the prevalence of disorders that result from the radioactive materials will be investigated and results to be compared with other regions where the program has not been implemented. This will enable the organization to know whether the program has been effective or not. Deterministic effects will also be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. Some effects of the radiations are registered on the victim’s body within short periods of time, for example, vomiting, nausea, skin and deep tissue burns results to infections on the body within a couple of hours or weeks. It is expected that with the program these effects will reduce with time as more prevention measures are rendered to the students and the patients at King Khalid University Hospital. Budget and Resources The budget will involve the cost of hiring ten tutors who will facilitate the training session, hiring a bus (es) depending on the number of students who will turn up for the training as well as laptops and writing materials. The laptops along with the projectors will help in assisting the tutors to project the main radiation machines that are used in the hospitals to facilitate health services delivery. This will ensure that at least the students are aware of the machines they are supposed to operate during their medical practice. Item Price Quantity Total Hiring tutors AU$130 per day 10 AU$28,000 Buying laptops AU$2,300 each 5 AU$11,500 Stationery AU$ 5,000 - AU$ 5,000 Hiring bus (es) AU$ 2000 per day 2 AU$ 90,000 Renting a classroom/store/office AU$ 1500 per month 3 AU$7,500 Launching website AU$ 5000 - AU$5000 Miscellaneous/others AU$3000 - AU$ 3000 Total AU$ 150000 Before the tutors are hired they shall be required to apply through writing to the organization. The committee will assess their professional qualifications as well as their ability to deliver so as to ensure that they will offer quality services to the students. The classrooms will also be well-furnished with the mission and vision of the program clearly written in blocks as well as the name of the organization that is conducting the program. The laptops and the projectors will be handled by a qualified IT staff who will be among the ten tutors. This will ensure that the gadgets will last longer because good care will be accorded to them. Moreover these laptops will be purchased from the best dealers in the country. The office and the store will also be well-furnished to ensure the security of the materials that will be kept there. Risk Analysis: Risk management table Material Risk Risk mitigation Laptops Viruses, humid conditions effects and wear and tear Installation of anti-viruses after every 3 months, keeping them in safe drawers. Busses Depreciation of parts of the vehicle Servicing them every week Classrooms/offices Breakages Renovation as soon as the breakage occurs Stationery Tattered(books becoming dog-eared due to poor storage and excessive use) situations and humid condition effects Ensure they are always covered with a polythene covers. The materials that will be used to enhance the program will be well managed so as to ensure that they do not result to any risk cases while in use. For example the laptops and the projectors will be checked as often as possible to make sure that they offer the best services while in use. Due to the changing technology it is expected that more advanced software may be developed and therefore the current ones may need to be changed in future so as to suit the trends. Other materials such as stationery and other office equipment will be upgraded as they get worn out. For the bus, it will be serviced by the company that will be hiring to the organization. Reference Blyth, B. J., & Sykes, P. J. (2011). Radiation-induced bystander effects: what are they, and how relevant are they to human radiation exposures?. Radiation research, 176(2), 139-157. Einstein, A. J. (2012). Effects of Radiation Exposure From Cardiac Imaging How Good Are the Data?. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 59(6), 553-565. El Ghissassi, F., Baan, R., Straif, K., Grosse, Y., Secretan, B., Bouvard, V., ... & Cogliano, V. (2009). A review of human carcinogens—part D: radiation. The lancet oncology, 10(8), 751-752. Hausleiter, J., Meyer, T., Hermann, F., Hadamitzky, M., Krebs, M., Gerber, T. C., ... & Achenbach, S. (2009). Estimated radiation dose associated with cardiac CT angiography. Jama, 301(5), 500-507. International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection. (2009). ICNIRP statement on the “guidelines for limiting exposure to time-varying electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic fields (up to 300 ghz)”. Health Physics, 97(3), 257-258. Preston, D. L., Mattsson, A., Holmberg, E., Shore, R., Hildreth, N. G., & Boice Jr, J. D. (2009). Radiation effects on breast cancer risk: a pooled analysis of eight cohorts. Rahman, W. N., Bishara, N., Ackerly, T., He, C. F., Jackson, P., Wong, C., ... & Geso, M. (2009). Enhancement of radiation effects by gold nanoparticles for superficial radiation therapy. Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine, 5(2), 136-142. Schauer, D. A., & Linton, O. W. (2009). National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements Report Shows Substantial Medical Exposure Increase 1. Radiology, 253(2), 293-296. Sinclair, C., & Foley, P. (2009). Skin cancer prevention in Australia. British Journal of Dermatology, 161(s3), 116-123. Vano, E., Gonzalez, L., Fernández, J. M., & Haskal, Z. J. (2008). Eye Lens Exposure to Radiation in Interventional Suites: Caution Is Warranted 1. Radiology, 248(3), 945-953. Read More