QUALITY ASSURANCE OF PERSONAL PROTECTIVE APPAREL AT TERTIARY HOSPITALS IN YOLA, ADAMAWA STATE

Background: Exposure to ionizing radiation is hazardous to radiological workers, patient's relatives, and patients. The effect may be stochastic or deterministic. Protective apparel keeps the radiation dose received by hospital workers, patients and patient relatives as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) under normal working conditions. Protective apparel is frequently mishandled in the diagnostic room after use leading to damage. Objective: This study aimed at assessing the integrity of the protective apparel used at the radiology department of a tertiary health institution in Adamawa State of Nigeria. Methods: From three different hospitals in Yola, 26 pieces of protective apparel were identified, inspected and classified by the hospital, type, manufacturer's name, years it had been used, and the thickness of the lead. With a 17 x 14-inch cassette two exposures were made on each garment with 70 kVp and 10 mAs with a focal film distance (FFD) of 100cm with a conventional x-ray unit. Results: The result showed 12 (46.0 %) of the protective apparel studied were defective with split 5 (42.0%), crack 4(33.0%) and hole 3(25.0%) as the most common defect. The correlation between the apparels age and the number of defective protective apparel were statistically not significant (p = 0.166). Conclusion: In order to ensure protective garments provide the best protection possible; there is a need for proper storage and regular quality assurance on the apparel in the radiology departments to ensure radiation protection.