USE OF RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES AT HOSPITALS AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS THEREOF

Abstract

Advancing technologies bring ease and comfort to our lives and help us to reach results rapidly, but the pollution of nature and environment caused by these developments increase rapidly with each passing day to threaten human health. Wastes of medical institutions that contain radioactive substances include unused excess liquids for radiotherapy or laboratory research purposes, contaminated glassware, packages or absorbing papers, radioactive sources without protective packaging, wastes that are extracted from patients kept in protective packaging such as urine and/or stools, and other sources of similar nature. This study was carried out as a descriptive study with the aim to identify the compliance of radiation safety in our country with national and international laws, legislations, and regulations as well as the awareness of radiation safety among health personnel, by means of surveys carried out with the personnel of hospitals and imaging centers located in the province of Istanbul along with other provinces. Through random sampling, we selected 200 employees among the personnel working at radiology units, nuclear medicine centers, angiography departments of certain public or private hospitals or at private imaging centers located in Istanbul or other provinces of Turkey, and carried out surveys about 'Socio-demographic Characteristics' and 'Personnel's Awareness Level about the Use and Wastes of Radioactive Substances'. Cronbach's Alpha value, as the scale's reliability coefficient, was .948 for the overall scale, and varied between .907-.922 for the three sub-factors. The obtained data were assessed by means of number-percentage calculations, arithmetic means, and standard deviation comparisons, along with independent group T-tests and Chi-Square tests.