Inspections And Tests Of Radiographic Equipment

Inspection of radiographic equipment

It is extremely important for radiographic equipment inspections to be done in the morning before day duty begins and, in the afternoon, when the shift ends. However, the radiation technologist may need to do an inspection during duty if any faults of the equipment are suspected. Inspections of radiographic equipment are basically observations done by the radiographer to check whether or not all equipment works as it should especially paying more attention to mechanical functioning of the machinery.

Different tests are compulsory and ought to be done on a constant basis in all radiography departments to test for any likelihood of experiencing faults during duty. Any malfunctioning of the machinery and other tools may not only cause delays in the rate of work done daily, but also endanger the patient, the public and all health care personnel within the department. Any unchecked malfunctions of radiographic equipment may lead to delivery of poor healthcare standards to patients, healthcare personnel and patient injury, avoidable radiation exposure to patients and radiographers, undiagnostic images, misdiagnosis of the patient and last but not least permanent damage to the radiographic apparatus or broken machinery which will cost the hospital significant amount of money to fix.

Some radiographic equipment inspections are not always complicated and cost the hospital no money as they are done by the employed radiographers in the department following departmental protocol along with pre-established checklists based on manufacturers specifications of the radiographic machinery and tools. This is the reason why the radiographers should have a well-rounded knowledge of their radiographic machinery and tools used and also be trained on how to prolong the equipment’s lifespan and keep it properly functioning.

The radiographer also must know how to inspect different possible causes of a fault of any one of their equipment and how to deal with any malfunctioning. If by chance the radiographer finds a fault in any of the radiographic equipment the radiographer would have to try to find the cause of the problem and if possible try to fix the problem, thereafter do a retest of the equipment. If the problem persists and the x-ray technologist cannot fix the problem, then the manufacturers will have to be contacted concerning the issue so that they may come to the department and do an inspection of the equipment and fix any problem(s) (McClelland, 2004). Different x-raying modalities would require different inspection intervals.

References:

McClelland, I. Rhttp://www.vdh.virginia.gov/radiological-health/radiological-health/x-ray-machine-program/medical-x-ray-machines/

https://qualityinspection.org/qc-inspection-china/

https://dshs.texas.gov/radiation/x-ray/inspections.aspx