A Radiation Safety Education Intervention for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists

Search for this publication on Google Scholar
Oliveri, A. (2024). A Radiation Safety Education Intervention for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
Download PDF

Analytics

99 views ◎
4 downloads ⇓


Abstract

CRNAs provide anesthesia for surgeries that utilize ionizing radiation daily and must possess the knowledge to protect themselves from the negative biological sequelae that can be caused by ionizing radiation exposure. CRNAs must remain compliant with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) ionizing radiation standards, and not exceed an annual whole body dose equivalent of 1.25 rem per quarter, or 5 rem per year (OSHA, n.d.). By increasing awareness of the risks of occupational exposure to ionizing radiation in the anesthesia setting, safer radiation precautions and practices can be promoted to aid in minimizing workplace exposure. The PICO question for the quality improvement (QI) project is, "In Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, does a radiation safety online educational intervention improve knowledge of radiation safety measures?" For the implementation of this project, an online education intervention was distributed to 157 CRNAs at a Level I trauma center. The intervention contained a pre-test consisting of four demographic and 11 knowledge-based questions, a narrated radiation safety infographic, and a post-test consisting of the same knowledge-based questions as the pre-test. Data analysis revealed that the educational infographic enhanced CRNAs knowledge of radiation safety. Moreover, CRNAs demonstrated the most improvement in their knowledge of potential health hazards of occupational exposure to ionizing radiation. The QI project recommends a strong emphasis on increasing distance away from the radiation source, custom fit lead, acknowledgement of ionizing radiation use during the surgical time-out, and for CRNAs to be sent their quarterly dosimeter reports.

Details
Author

Oliveri, Alyssa

Title

A Radiation Safety Education Intervention for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists

Physical Description

1 online resource (49 pages) : PDF

Date

2024

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

CRNAs provide anesthesia for surgeries that utilize ionizing radiation daily and must possess the knowledge to protect themselves from the negative biological sequelae that can be caused by ionizing radiation exposure. CRNAs must remain compliant with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) ionizing radiation standards, and not exceed an annual whole body dose equivalent of 1.25 rem per quarter, or 5 rem per year (OSHA, n.d.). By increasing awareness of the risks of occupational exposure to ionizing radiation in the anesthesia setting, safer radiation precautions and practices can be promoted to aid in minimizing workplace exposure. The PICO question for the quality improvement (QI) project is, "In Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, does a radiation safety online educational intervention improve knowledge of radiation safety measures?" For the implementation of this project, an online education intervention was distributed to 157 CRNAs at a Level I trauma center. The intervention contained a pre-test consisting of four demographic and 11 knowledge-based questions, a narrated radiation safety infographic, and a post-test consisting of the same knowledge-based questions as the pre-test. Data analysis revealed that the educational infographic enhanced CRNAs knowledge of radiation safety. Moreover, CRNAs demonstrated the most improvement in their knowledge of potential health hazards of occupational exposure to ionizing radiation. The QI project recommends a strong emphasis on increasing distance away from the radiation source, custom fit lead, acknowledgement of ionizing radiation use during the surgical time-out, and for CRNAs to be sent their quarterly dosimeter reports.

Genre

doctoral dissertations

Subjects--Topics

Medical sciences

Degree

D.N.P.

Subject Area

Health Services Research

Advisor(s)

Woods, Stephanie

Degree Note

Thesis (D.N.P.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2024.

Rights Statement

This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). For additional information, see http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/.

Rights Holder Information

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Identifier

Oliveri_uncc_0694D_13679

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:3491