Female HCWs need better protection from ionizing radiation

Editor's Note

In this British Medical Journal editorial, experts say that female healthcare workers (HCWs) need better protection of their breast tissue from routine ionizing radiation, and they urge implementation of more rigorous radiation protection standards.

The experts make the following recommendations:

• reducing the duration of exposure
• increasing the distance from the source of exposure
• shielding all workers with effective protective clothing (ie, lead aprons)
• making changes to lead aprons that expose the axilla region with the addition of cap sleeves or coverage for the axilla area.

Employers worldwide have a duty to care for HCWs exposed to ionizing radiation and, therefore, should provide adequate protection, the authors say.