Effective education in radiation safety for nurses.

In order to establish an efficient training program of radiation safety for nurses, studies have been carried out on the basis of questionnaires. Collaboration of nurses, who are usually standing closest to the patient, is necessary in order to offer safe radiological diagnostics/treatment. The authors distributed the questionnaire to 134 nurses in five polyclinic hospitals in Japan. Important questions were: fear of radiation exposure, knowledge on the radiation treatment, understanding the impact on pregnancy, and so on. Most of the nurses feel themselves uneasy against exposure to radiation. They do not have enough knowledge of radiological treatment. They do not know exactly what is the impact of the radiation on pregnant women. Such tendency is more pronounced, when nurses spend less time working in the radiological department. Nurses play important roles in radiological diagnostics/treatment. Therefore, a well-developed education system for radiation safety is essential. The training for the radiation safety in medicine should be done in the context of general safety in medicine. Education programs in undergraduate school and at the working place should be coordinated efficiently in order to ensure that both nurses and patients are informed about the meaning of radiation safety.