Purpose: The purpose of the study was to clarify the expected role of nurses by conducting a questionnaire survey that evaluated the situation perspectives of radiologists (MDs) and radiologic technologists (RTs) regarding the role of nurses.

Method: We mailed an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire to MDs and RTs at 331 medical institutes.

Results: A total of 1,267 questionnaires were collected. Overall, we found that nurses were involved in activities related to diagnosis (e.g., X-ray examinations, Computed Tomography (CT) scans, nuclear medicine, Interventional Radiology (IVR) and radiotherapy (e.g., external irradiation, stereotactic radiation irradiation, brachytherapy), and medical care (e.g., care of patients with adverse medical reactions). Nurses were mostly involved with CT examinations. For radiotherapy, the expected role for nurses was to “provide support for emergency conditions during radiotherapy” (MDs=85.4%, RTs=91.0%), “provide comfort to anxious patients receiving radiotherapy” (MDs=67.4%, RTs=66.7%). Regarding medical care, most MDs and RTs (MDs=78.1%, RTs=81.0%) reported that nurses appropriately provided support for the patient’s emergency condition during radiotherapy. However, half (45.5%) of the RTs reported that the radiation protection methods of nurses were inappropriate.

Conclusion: Nurses are expected to have roles in radiology, and to provide medical care involving diagnostics, and radiotherapy. More education and training is needed for nurses to acquire knowledge and skills for radiological protection.

Purpose: To determine factors affecting the current status and awareness about the radiation exposure of nurses who administer intervention radiology (IVR).

Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to 1,016 nurses who routinely administer IVR.

Results: The number of effective responses was 560 (55.1%). Of the respondents, at least 90% said that they needed education for radiation exposure and radiation protection, more than 70% responded that they were concerned about occupational exposure, 90% said they adopted appropriate protection measures. Factors affecting self-assessment scores among nurses aged 30 to 39 years and 40 to 49 years were analyzed. In both groups, nurses with educational experience, who were employed by facilities that conducted frequent IVR examinations, or who had higher scores for self-estimated knowledge, had less anxiety regarding radiation exposure. Staff with Intervention Nursing Expert qualifications, education and experience with radiation, and occupational exposure to low levels of radiation, also had less anxiety (affectivity).

Consideration: It is difficult to say whether continuing education about basic knowledge and radiation exposure protection is substantial However, education and experience with radiation affect knowledge and anxiety, and nurses involved in IVR require systematically delivered basic knowledge about radiation.

We did a questionnaire survey on perception of hospital radiology nurses in Japan about prevention of their own occupational exposure to radiation. A qualitative analysis of responses from 131 staff nurses to an open-ended question asking their thoughts and opinions about the issue yielded 13 major categories, 26 categories, and 60 subcategories, which showed that nurses felt anxieties over uncertainties about exposure dose and its effects, and these anxieties were amplified by their lack of knowledge and awareness of perfunctory radiological protection. The unsatisfactory protection resulted from the management system, excessive physical burden of wearing personal protective equipment, and human factors of work environments such as interdisciplinary relationship. These anxieties could lead to aversion to, and hence reduced quality of, their radiology nursing care. Collaboration across organizations and occupations is needed to improve the situation.

This study examined external radiation exposure in the family of a patient receiving radioactive ¹³¹I therapy for thyroid cancer and records of contact with the patient, to clarify the actual situation of external exposure in family members. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted to clarify the patients’ anxiety about radiation exposure in their family members.

The mean overall radiation dose at 8 days was 16.0 µSv (range, 11.9–18.4 µSv). Significant differences were observed between patients in the radiation dose every 24 hours after discharge from the first to the eighth day (p=.003). The dose on the first day after discharge was significantly higher than that on the fifth day (p=.044), the seventh day (p=.006), and the eighth day (p=.0014).

Many patients and family members did not express any particular concerns about the possibility of patients’ radiation exposure affecting those around them. However, one patient was concerned about the influence of radiation exposure on his/her other organs, and another patient was advised to restrict his/her activities because of a non-family member’s concern about radiation exposure affecting others, especially children, around the patient.

This study explores nursing in health surveys and checkups during the early period of the operation of the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC), as related in the narratives of nurses and doctors working there. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three Japanese nurses and one doctor who had worked in the Hiroshima ABCC, and their narratives were analyzed using an oral history approach. It was concluded that their main activity during health surveys and checkups was assisting in medical treatment. It was suggested that each nursing department conducted nursing activities based on the purpose of the surveys and checkups. Nurses also played a role in collecting precise data as staff of the research institute and during their nursing, focusing on attitudes toward atom-bomb survivors and test methods and practices. Some survivors displayed negative behaviors with regard to the health surveys and checkups. This study’s findings suggest that nurses played an important role in treating survivors by alleviating their stress they felt during the surveys, providing them with needs based checkups, and caring for their emotional issues involved.

The word “hibaku,” written as “被曝,” is used in Japan to mean “exposure to radiation”; however, “被曝” in China means “being revealed.” The literature indicates that “被曝” was first introduced at an annual meeting of X-ray technicians in 1950 and circulated to various sectors by 1955. Chinese words such as “曝露” and “曝射” had been used for the same uses and purposes before then. Most likely, “被曝” was created to draw attention to the risk of occupational exposure to radiation, making use of its phonetic equality and notational similarity to “被爆” (exposure to the atomic bomb). While “被曝” has achieved great successes in drawing public attention to the risk of radiation exposure, as well as linking “被曝者” (“hibakusha” as the victims of nuclear experiments and accidents) and “被爆者” (“hibakusha” as the survivors of the atomic bomb), the perception of “被爆” linked to it has become a psychological obstacle to radiation therapy. Therefore, the use of “被曝” as a scientific term for radiation exposure and use of the ambiguous notation “被ばく” by scientists and professionals may need reconsideration.