Reduction of excessive exposure by raising practitioners to the principles of patient radiation protection in pediatric practice at the Ngaliema clinic in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Abstract

This is a sharing of experience of our initiatives and efforts to reduce the doses of unnecessary exposures through the use of didactic means of awareness of practitioners to good radiopediatric practices. Our approach was to first assess the state of practices to identify the inadequacies of non-compliance with standards; then, we proceeded to sensitize practitioners on the need to respect the principles of radiation protection of patients, especially, pediatric patients before finally, to measure the impact mid-term of our corrective actions. The results obtained at the evaluation stage mainly referred to an absence of radiation protection culture characterized by the absence of any organizational approach to it. Also, a low level of awareness and knowledge about the need to observe the main principles of radiation protection. The mid-term observations made at the awareness stage noted a marked improvement in terms of knowledge, awareness and change of attitudes that allowed for a positive evolution of practices.