Soon after, scientists were able to look into peoples body without harming them for the first time. During WW2 nuclear medicine was used to investigate thyroid disease. Then in the 1950s a medical doctor used a mammography to screen women for breast cancer, this was proven to be incredibly useful, during the same decade, the ultra scanner was used for the first time in the 1950s. And then form 1960s and onwards the MRI and CT scanner were developed. These major breakthroughs have saved millions of lives by helping doctors diagnose diseases which would have been very difficult to discover, without having a look inside the body.
Science in fawkham manor hospital
CT scans- CT scans is when you us waves to scan different of your body to build up detailed image of the body, CT scans use a ring shaped rotating mechanism to analyze the parts of the body it wants to scan. It uses different x-rays to scan the body, to give a detailed image of the organs and tissues.
The images built up are called tomographs and are used to diagnose patients with things such as tumors, bone disease or any other health issues. Sometimes its used as a body map. CT scans usually take from 10 minutes to upwards of 30 minutes. Usually the staff step out of the room(for security reasons) but still talk to the patient through a telecom.
Alternative CT scans are sometimes used, such as spiral scans. This works by firing a single moving x-ray around the body, providing continuous details of the patients body
Ct scans are quite safe and offer little to no pain. The low dose of x-rays seem to be relatively safe as far as we know.
X-ray machines- X-ray machines are machines that emit x-rays to build an image of the bones. This works on the principle on that x-rays get absorbed by our bones. X-rays are part of the electro-magnetic spectrum. In essence they are made of highly energized particles called photons. These are what also make up visible light, with the difference being that light comprises of much lower energy than that of a x-ray photon.
X-rays are made from the process of when an atom gets excited. Generally when an atom gets excited. Its electrons move onto a higher orbit. This causes the atom to become unstable, so the electron moves back to its original energy state/orbit. During the process of it moving back to its original state, it emits energy in the form of a photon.
The amount of energy the photon carries, largely depends on how big the gap was between the electrons original energy state and its new energy state. In the case of a x-ray photon being produced. The drop between the electrons new energy state and it’s original energy state would have to be huge. X-rays are highly energized and can penetrate deeply through the soft tissue. This is due to the sizes of the particles in the skin and tissue. The energy difference between the electrons orbits don’t really match well with the x-ray photons massive energy. However the calcium atoms in our bones are much larger and match the high energy level of the x-ray photons, far more better. This is what makes are bones pretty good at absorbing the x-ray photons.
X-ray machines applies all this knowledge in a practical way. Like electrons guns, X-rays machines compose of a cathode and a anode. In a vacuum tube you have a filament(cathode) which gets heated by a stream of current running through it. Once hot enough, electrons on the surface of the filament are fired towards the tungsten plate (anode), due to it’s positive charge. Next the electrons on the surface of the filament are fred towards the tungsten plate(anode), due to it’s positive charge. Next the electrons collide withe the atoms in the tungsten plate, with such a great deal of force, that it knocks the electrons out to space. An electron in a higher position/energy state, drop down to a lower state/position. The drop is huge, meaning the electron will emit n x-ray photon. The free electrons roaming about, also still emit x-ray photons by it being attracted to the nucleus of a atom. This attraction slows down the speeding electron, causing it to slightly change direction. This change of direction causes it to produce an x-ray photon. Below the tungsten plate, you have a motor which spins the tungsten plate to prevent it from melting.(due to the immense heat). X-ray machines also consist of a gel on the cathode, which absorbs heat generated by the process. Next you have a small hole which let’s some of the X-ray photons escape, these escaped photons then go through series of filters. Which will then eventually hit the patient. Special cameras on the other side of the patient captures and records the patterns of the x-ray photons that went straight through the patient. The film produced is usually a negative which will often show the bones looking white, while other areas such as tissues or organs, appear a grey in color.
MRI machines
MRIs are composed of different kind of magnets. For example you have the gradient magnet, the primary magnet and so. The principle behind the MRIs only work, because of the fact that our bodies are made of over 60% of water. Water is a compound which comprises of two part hydrogen and one part oxygen. These molecules consist of randomly spinning hydrogen atoms. These particles spin on their axis in random motion. In essence, these atoms have strong magnetic moments. This is taken advantage of as if you apply a strong magnetic field. You can align these atoms, in the direction of the magnetic field. The magnets in MRI systems are very powerful,usually ranging from 0.5 Tesla to 2.0 Tesla(10,000 gauss in 1 Tesla)which is many times stronger the earths magnetic field(which is 0.5 gauss). There are three types of magnets used in MRI machines. You have :
Resistive magnets, which produces a magnetic field by the winding of coils, which has an electric current passed through it. The wires are very resistive hence the name, so require a huge amount of electricity about 50 kilo watts. Though quite cheap to build/construct, the price can sky rocket when the magnet has to operate over 0.3 tesla.
Secondly you have the permanent magnet, with its main advantage being that its permanent(the magnetic field is always on), so doesn’t cost much to maintain. Unfortunately these are pretty hard to construct, especially when the machine is operating at 0.4 tesla.
Due to the limitations of the other two magnets, the most commonly used magnet is super conducting magnet. These magnets work on the same principle of resistive magnets. With the only difference being that the magnet is in below zero liquid helium. This extreme cold, causes the resistance in the wire to hit zero. Which means the current can easily pass through the wires without any obstacles. This makes these magnets economically feasible, so are widespread in most MRI machines. Using the magnets above, you can use the intense magnetic field to align the atoms in a direction either towards a patients head or feet. This allows the single proton in the hydrogen nucleus to cancel each other out.
MRI machines are only dangerous when someone has some sort of metal on them. This includes anything from tattoos to
Ultra sound have a wide range of application from showing couples their babies for the first time to detecting abnormalities in heart blood vessels. Ultra sound has a very high frequency so therefore can’t be heard by the human ear. The basic science behind ultra sound involve the reflection of sound waves, in a ultra scanner he sound waves are reflected back as echoes where the it’s picked up by a computer. Ultra sound can travel through any liquids such as blood and plasma, but is reflected by more solid objects like a blood valve or organs. In ultra scanners, the waves are constantly reflected y as echoes where a computer slowly builds up the image based on the individual echoes. The typical steps that ultra scanners is first the probes emit high frequency sound waves to the body. These sound waves hit a certain part of the body e.g body tissue. Some of the sound waves are reflected back while others keep on traveling till they reach some boundary. Next these sound waves get sent back to the probes. A computer calculates the distance from the probe to the boundary point that reflected the sound. The computer than shows the intensities and echoes on the screen, building a 2d image.
The main of a ultra scan is the transude probe. This probe is what creates and receives the sound waves. It works by applying a electrical current to the crystals. Which causes the crystals to change shape causing a vibration(sound waves) once these sound waves hit the crystals again the vibration causing the crystals so emit electrical current, which means that the same crystals can be used again to emit vibration.
Ultra scanners also have a computer, which does all the calculations necessary to build up the image.
Ultra scanners are very safe and provide no harmful effects.
Health and safety in Fawkham manor hospital
Ionizing radiation regulation 1999
The ionizing radiation regulation is about protecting workers who work with or around machines that directly emits radiation.
The law basic outlines that the workers be responsible around equipment. Its important that the staff write out a report about the risk assessment.
It also ensures that action must be taken to keep the radiation dose as low as possible. This can include wearing protective clothing or being behind some protective shield (e.g like a safe room). Records of all health survellences activities should be kept and all workers should undergo a medical examination.
Fawkham manor often takes these seriously as their radiology department is filled with machines that emit dome sort of radiation(e.g x-ray radiation). In x-ray rooms, you can see the staff were often wearing aprons made out of thick lead, these were used because lead can protect blocks all sorts of radiation like gamma radiation and alpha radiation, but they also combat x-rays so are ver useful. Radiographers also have protective rooms were they would often talk to the patient through a telecom.
Hazards and critical control points as part of the food safety act 1990
This act is about preventing actions such as food poising. It ensures that the safety of food and makes sure that the food is fit for humans to eat and isn’t injurious to health. The act also states that food shouldn’t be falsely described or advertised .Article 18 requires food business operators to keep records of food, food substances and food-producing animals supplied to their business, and also other businesses to which their products have been supplied. In each case, the information shall be made available to competent authorities on demand. This specifically applies to fawkham manor when they provide patients with food. fawkham needs to ensure that the records are kept on where the food came from and what substances or animals were used.
1974 Safety at work act
The health and safety at work act focuses on the safety of workers or staff. T he act goes into details about the precautions that need to take place regarding the workers safety. Employers must also take responsibility of themselves, though most require just common sense. Such as the employer being aware of the dangers in his surrounding and be able to act safely. Examples include builders wearing helmets,office workers sitting properly to prevent back problems. Or people working in highly radiated areas, wearing protective suits. Also, if necessary the workers should take some kind of medical test to ensure that theirs nothing in the work environment that might pose a threat to the workers health. In essence this act tries to make the staff at the work place as safe as possible to the employees and non employees.
Workers at fawkham manor most likely will need to think about this more then say someone working in an office. Reason being that the staff often work around pretty dangerous machines. The radiographers working with MRI machines need to ensure that when a patients enter the MRI room with no form of metal on them.You have the employees in the x-ray rooms who need to be sure they are wearing their aprons and that the radiation dose isn’t too high. Safety posters will probably need to be put up all over the hospital to inform non employers about the safety policies in the hospital.
The brewery might execute this in a different way, from basic things such as putting hand-railings in their staircases to maintaining machinery such as fork lifts. Shepard neame would probably require most brewers to wear protective clothing such as helmets due to huge machineries that they would have to work with.
Management of health and safety work 1999
This act looks into the management of safety in the workplace. First it begins by explaining that employers should carry out a risk assessment before workers with anything that can expose them to any kind of danger. This involves the employer listing different hazards related with the work activity and also listing the solutions or precautions to the listed hazards. Next the employer must also(if required) hire people with the appropriate skills and knowledge to help him/her enforce the precaution on the risk assessment. Relevant training should also be given to certain employees who are leaders/managers of certain sections.
Provision and use of work equipment regs 1998
This provides this law specifically focuses on the safety surrounding any form of machinery. The law states that machines should be regularly updated and maintained. They also should be maintained by people with the right training and skills. Users should be well aware of the safety policy surrounding the machine and should keep a regular log about the maintenance of the machine. non employers should be kept out of danger zones of the machines. Also safety should be put in place such as wearing or boots or ear buds.
by
Ajibola
