IMPROVING RADIOGRAPHER UNDERSTANDING OF DIAGNOSTIC REFERENCE LEVEL AS AN EFFORT TO OPTIMIZE RADIOGRAPHIC EXAMINATION

Abstract

The use of X-rays cannot be separated from the radiation given to the patient's body, therefore the radiation exposure received by patients should be very low according to the ALARA principle (As Low As Reasonably Achieveable). The research method is a quantitative description by using themeasurement method radiation output as a reference for the estimated radiation dose received by the patient, then the analysis of the success of socialization to radiographers about DRL as an optimization effort in radiographic examination. The results of the radiation dose estimation using themethod radiation output by determining theequation power function of themeasurement radiation output where the value of the radiation dose rate increases as the kVp value increases with y= 0.0005x2.9242. From theresults, it was pre-test found that the number of correct answers was 120 and 84 wrong, with a percentage of 59% and the number of respondents 10.03 people. Meanwhile, for theresults, the post-test number of correct answers was 194 and 12 wrong, with a percentage of 94% and the number of respondents being 15.98 people. It is hoped that radiographers can apply the principle of optimization in carrying out all radiographic examinations.