Enhancing radiation safety culture in health care: guidance for health care providers

Overview

Radiation safety culture in health care encompasses every action taken to improve the protection and safety of patients and personnel involved in medical exposure. This publication provides a framework to establish, maintain and enhance radiation safety culture in health care. It highlights patterns of organizational and individual thinking/behaving which define a positive safety culture and provides a set of tools to assess the existing level and quality of radiation safety culture and good practice examples. It is addressed to health professionals and stakeholders having an interest in radiation protection – including regulators, manufacturers of medical devices, and health care managers. 

 The publication was developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) jointly with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP) and the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA). It builds upon the output from several international workshops bringing the expertise and experience from stakeholders from different regions of the world.