Radiation therapy may be used in conjunction with chemotherapy in the treatment of cancer. A person may undergo external or . External radiation is applied to the affected areas on a schedule while internal radiation involves the implantation of radioactive materials into a person. Safety measures need to be taken when a patient has radioactive implants.
Instructions
1. Assign a patient with radiation implants to a private room with a private bathroom attached to it. This is to minimize the risk of radiation exposure to staff, other patients and visitors.
2. Make sure that health care staff and visitors spend short amounts of time in the room of a person with internal radiation implants. Visitors should spend no more than an hour with an internal radiation implant patient.
3. Ensure that pregnant women and children under the age of 16 are not allowed into the room of a internal radiation implants.
4. Wear gloves when you handle secretions or excretions of a patient with unsealed radiation implants. They could be a source of radiation.
5. Place long forceps and a sealed box in the patient's room. If the patient's internal implants accidentally fall out, do not pick them up with your hands. Pick them up with the forceps and dispose of them in the box.
6. Wear a radiation badge before you enter the patient's room. This monitors the amount of radiation you are exposed to so that you are not overexposed.
Tags: internal radiation, radiation implants, patient with, with internal, with internal radiation