Investigation and analysis on the capability of municipal radiological health technical institutions in China / 中国职业医学

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To understand the current status of the capability in building primary radiological health technical institutions in China.METHODS: A total of 38 prefecture level radiological health technical institutions from 27 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China were selected as the research subjects using the judgment sampling method, and their qualification, department settings from 2014 to 2018, related conditions of professional and technical personnel, 22 items of radiation health technical work development, 14 kinds of radiation health related laboratory settings and six types of instruments and equipment were investigated and analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 37 radiological health technical institutions provided feedback data. Among them, 30 were Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and seven were institutions for Occupational Disease Control and Prevention. Among the 37 institutions, 31(83.7%) had radiological health-related qualifications and 12(32.4%) institutions had set up independent radiological health departments. There were 294 professional and technical personnel in radiological health field, with an average of eight persons for each institution. The ratio of male to female was 1.7 ∶1.0. The proportion of professionals younger than 50 years was 82.0%, and 83.0% professionals had an educational background with bachelor′s degree or above. Only 11.9% of the professionals had radiation health education background, and 81.3% had medical and health related educational background. There were 74.8% of the professionals who had intermediate title or above, and 60.2% had less than 10 years of service. From 2014 to 2018, the annual total inflow of personnel showed a decreasing trend(P<0.01), while the total outflow showed an increasing trend(P<0.01). Among the 37 institutions, each institution undertook an average of nine radiological health technical tasks. The individual dose-monitoring laboratory had the largest number of laboratories related to radiological health and the largest sample handling capacity. On average, each institution was equipped with only 0.5 instruments and equipment for each type of radiological health technical work. CONCLUSION: The distribution of age, educational background and professional title of the staffs in the municipal radiological health technical institutions in China is reasonable, but the laboratory construction and equipment allocation still need to be strengthened.