As a radiologic technologist, your patient may come to you and ask, “how much radiation am I getting with my exam”?  They don’t necessarily want you to pull out a calculator and perform an actual radiation risk dose calculation to.  What they usually want to know about is the radiation risk factors involved with the exam they are receiving today.  So how does the radiologic technologist answer questions about radiation risk factors in terms most patients are able to understand?  Join me as I explore a few of the options available that will help any technologist provide their patient the information they need about radiation risk associated with various types of diagnostic imaging procedures.
In this episode of the Topics in Radiography Podcast, you will learn:

* How and why to prepare yourself to answer questions from patients about the radiation risk for their imaging exam
* Where to find resources that will enable you to provide understandable answers about radiation risks, and still operate within your scope of practice
* Methods for patient advocacy when they are seeking information about their radiation risk factors
* Where to send patients with varying levels of knowledge about radiation risk for resources of information to meet their specific needs 

Items/links mentioned in this podcast:
Image Gently
Image Wisely (How to Understand and Communicate Radiation Risk)
XrayRisk.com
Patient Handout (from xrayrisk.com)
DCAL – Environmental Protection Agency software used to calculate radiation dose
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