After which of the following procedures should a patient's body fluids be considered radioactive?
A nuclear medicine procedure
After a patient has
... [Show More] received therapeutic iodine 131 and returned to her room:
You should treat all objects in her room as potentially contaminated.
I-131 is an unsealed source, and may be present in any of the patient's secretions or excretions. Therefore, you should treat all objects in the room as potentially contaminated, and handle them only with gloves.
Which of the following is a source of radiation in the healthcare setting?
Nuclear medicine
Radiation used to diagnose or treat disease can be divided into four categories: unsealed source radiation, brachytherapy, nuclear medicine, and external beam radiation.
A patient has an unsealed source radiation procedure. Which of the following statements is true?
After the procedure, the patient's leftover lunch should be considered radioactive.
These procedures use high doses of radiation. It travels all through the patient's body. All of the objects in the patient's room should be considered radioactive.
Which of the following involves external beam radiation?
Fluoroscopy
Fluoroscopy is an external beam procedure.
Which of the following is a safe and appropriate way to handle radioactive materials?
Using a certified chemical fume hood when preparing tracers
Use a chemical fume hood certified for radioactive materials when preparing tracers or other radiopharmaceuticals.
A patient is receiving external beam radiation. You are assisting. Choose the true statement.
You are at risk of radiation exposure from both the primary beam and scattered secondary beams.
The highest dose of radiation comes from the primary beam. Secondary beams also may scatter off the patient's body and strike nearby caregivers.
Tracers used in nuclear medicine have short half-lives. This means that:
The radiation in tracers decays rapidly.
Tracers used in nuclear medicine have short-half lives. This means that their radioactivity decays rapidly. The patient will soon be non-radioactive.
When should healthcare workers provide patient care from behind the lead shield?
After a patient has received high-dose brachytherapy
High-energy brachytherapy implants require extra precautions, such as wearing a lead apron when providing patient care. The other procedures listed here are all external beam radiation, which does not make the patient radioactive after the procedure.
Which of the following are sources of radiation in the healthcare setting?
Body fluids from a patient treated with unsealed source radiation
Patient body fluids become contaminated in the case of unsealed source radiation or nuclear medicine. Brachytherapy and external beam radiation do not result in contamination of bodily fluids.
What are the three key factors for limiting exposure to radiation?
Time, distance, and shielding
The three key factors are time, distance, and shielding. [Show Less]