Abstract:
The patient radiation dose is a very essential parameter to control the quality of the x-ray
services within the hospital. Dose monitoring helps to ensure the best possible protection of
the patient and gives an immediate indication of incorrect use of technical parameters or
equipment failure. The purpose of this research was to assess the entrance skin doses for adult
patients for the age above 18 undergoing diagnostic x-ray examinations in Gondar Referral
Hospital, Gondar, Ethiopia. A total of 182 patients of above 18 years of age from this hospital
were incorporated in this study and the types of examinations were evaluated; namely, chest
(AP/PA/LAT), skull (AP/PA/LAT), abdomen (AP) and pelvis (PA) for each patients
information (age, sex, weight, height) and exposure parameters like, tube potential (kVp),
tube current (mAs) exposure time (msec), FFD (cm) and FSD (cm) were recorded. The SPSS
software was used to assess the ESD of the eight selected x-ray examinations in the Gondar
Referral Hospital. Patient data and exposure parameters were captured into the software for
the calculations of the doses. The mean ESD of the eight different examinations were
calculated using the software and compared with published works and internationally
established diagnostic reference levels. The mean ESD calculated were 0.27 mGy, 0.43 mGy,
1.31 mGy for chest AP, PA and LAT respectively; 1.05 mGy, 0.45 mGy, 1.14 mGy for skull
AP, PA and LAT respectively; 2.10 mGy for pelvis AP and 3.25 mGy for abdomen PA. The
values obtained compares favourably with similar works published elsewhere and
internationally established diagnostic reference levels except for the entrance skin doses for
chest which was slightly higher than published works, yet below the IDRL. This shows that
when technical factors are optimized, patient doses will reduce substantially. Hence, the
radiographers on practice should be well informed on radiation dose to patients and the
means to protect their patients.
Key words: Entrance Skin Dose (ESD), Conventional Radiology, DRL
