2015 Volume 3 Issue 1 Pages 10-19
The purpose of this study was to clarify the level of nursing care expected by nursing managers in relation to radiological practices. Subjects comprised 430 nursing managers and 2,628 nurses working at 19 hospitals in Japan that had radiation programs and more than 300 beds. In February and March 2012, the nurses and managers completed questionnaires regarding occupational anxiety and the state of radiological education. Results showed that more than 90% of the nursing managers expected nurses to have an acceptable level of knowledge about radiation. In addition, 60% of the nurses indicated that they had obtained their knowledge about radiological practices from doctors and radiologic technologists, whereas the other 40% had acquired their knowledge from the mass media. About 80% of the nurses had experience in taking patients to and sitting in on X-ray examinations, and 70% had adjusted a patient’s positioning during the examination. About 20% of the nurses reported having anxiety about nursing care after nuclear medicine scans. Although nursing managers expected nurses to have clinical radiation expertise, hospitals only tended to offer workshops infrequently. Therefore, nurses must become familiar with radiological nursing during their undergraduate education. These results indicate that nurses working in the field of radiology should have access to adequate resources and continuing education.
