A quality assurance program in dental radiographic units in western Greece.
OBJECTIVE
This survey reports on successful efforts to establish a quality assurance (QA) program for 50 intraoral x-ray units in the public and private sectors in the region of Achaia, Greece. It was conducted in 2 phases, in 1996 and in 2003, including on-site inspections, QA tests, and standard questionnaires. The aim of the study was to assess equipment conditions, knowledge, and adoption of radiographic QA guidelines by general dentists and, more importantly, the impact of the recommendations and training provided.


METHODS
The tested parameters focused on radiation protection, equipment maintenance, film speed used, film processing conditions, and radiologic characteristics such as voltage, radiation leakage, type of collimation, source-to-skin distance, timer accuracy, and entrance dose.


RESULTS
The data gathered in 1996 demonstrate minimal compliance with equipment function requirements and radiation safety measures. 1 The comparative evaluation of all the parameters gathered from the 2 surveys, indicated that in 2003 the vast majority of the dentists followed the recommendations given in 1996. Only 2 dentists persisted in neglecting the guidelines.
Stavrianou
Kallirroy
K
University of Patras School of Medicine, Patras, Greece.
Pappous
George
G
Pallikarakis
Nicolas
N
D005374:Filtration / Q000295:instrumentation; D006115:Greece; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D008283:Maintenance; D019239:Practice Patterns, Dentists'; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011835:Radiation Protection; D011858:Radiographic Magnification / Q000295:instrumentation; D011861:Radiography, Dental / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013679:Technology, Radiologic / Q000193:education; D013997:Time Factors; D014962:X-Ray Film