Radiation Protection Today - Winter 2022 Issue 4 | Page 4

Letters to The Editor

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Radioactive Source Article – Erratum
We would like to thank SRP member Andy Bradley , Nuclear Medicine Directorate Manager at St Mary ' s Hospital , Manchester , for pointing out that one of the photographs in the article on page 12 of the Summer 2022 issue of Radiation Protection Today showed poor radiation protection practices .
Producing a magazine article of the right content and length is challenging and finding photographs to accompany articles can be difficult . Often , we have to resort to the use of publicly available or stock photographs
and these do not necessarily depict good practices . The photograph selection may not always receive the same editorial scrutiny as the words of the article itself . At Radiation Protection Today , we are taking steps to ensure we enhance our editorial practices so that the quality of articles and photographs is as high as possible .
However , we thought we would use this opportunity as a teaching exercise .
The photograph below on the left hand side is the one that was used to demonstrate a Tc-99m injection .
The photograph on the right hand side demonstrates proper radiation safety practices associated with performing a Tc-99m injection .
Bad Practice Good Practice
Individual should be wearing gloves to prevent contamination of the skin
Hand is touching the syringe at the unshielded location , where the exposure to gamma radiation would be the highest
Individual wearing gloves to prevent contamination of the skin
Hand is touching the syringe at the shielded location , where the exposure to gamma radiation is the lowest
A syringe shield is used to minimise gamma radiation
On the positive side , a syringe shield is used to minimise gamma radiation
Nothing used to secure the needle in place in the vein
A protective covering is used on the arm to secure the cannula / needle in the vein , and to protect the skin from contamination
An absorbent covering is used below the arm to protect the surface below from contamination
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