Guidelines on radiation protection education and training of veterinary professionals

In the fall of 2012, the subject of radiation protection in veterinary medicine was raised during the meeting of the HERCA Board. Based on an further investigation, it was noticed that there was an increasing use of more complex imaging procedures (interventional radiology, CT, diagnostic nuclear medicine) and of different radio-therapeutic modalities (metabolic radiotherapy, tele-therapy, sealed sources), which may imply greater risks of exposure of humans to ionizing radiation.

Education and training of the different veterinary professionals is crucial in order to keep the exposure of the different humans involved to a minimum. Also, the specific education and training needs, strongly depend on the type of technique or sources that are being used by the veterinary professional. In order to give some guidelines to the different member countries to develop local requirements for education and training, HERCA has developed guidelines on radiation protection education and training of veterinary professionals. The learning outcomes stated in this document are divided into two levels: a basic level for all professionals, and a second additional level, specific to the used technique and this for both the veterinary doctors as for the veterinary assistants/radiographers.