Abstract
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of having a student present in the PET/CT department on the technologists’ occupational radiation exposure; furthermore, to investigate if this effect is influenced by the type of supervision performed. METHODS: This was a retrospective, IRB approved study that collected data from two PET/CT departments. Dosimetry reports, correlated with the clinical schedules of the students, were normalized for workflow (amount of radioactivity), the number of technologists, and the number of monitored days in the department. A two sample t-test assuming unequal variances with an alpha of 0.05 was used to compare doses between student and no student groups, and between direct supervision and indirect supervision groups. RESULTS: The study consisted of a data set of 42 dosimetry reports, 19 with students and 23 without students. When comparing student and no student groups, the total (N = 42) extremity dose had a p-value of 0.012 with a mean of 0.0011665 uSv/MBq/Tech/day; all other dose comparisons between groups were greater than 0.05 (P>0.05). For Indirect supervision (n = 21), the extremity dose p-value was 0.298. The other dose p-values were all less than 0.05. For Direct supervision (n = 21), the dose p-values were all greater than 0.05. There was a trend of decreasing exposure to technologists with students in the department. CONCLUSION: Extremity dose decreases when students were present. There was a trend of decreasing dose with indirect supervision.