How To Extend the Life of Radiation Protection Garments
When medical facilities invest in high-quality personal protective equipment (PPE) to shield clinicians during procedures, it’s essential to get the most out of it throughout its lifespan. Maintaining protective garments ensures your clinicians remain protected and helps manage budgets as efficiently as possible. Storing garments on a dedicated lead aprons rack also helps maintain their shape and prevent unnecessary damage.
How do you extend the life of radiation protection garments? Read on as we discuss strategies and tips for the entire garment lifecycle, including inspections, cleaning, repairs, and lead garment disposal. Additional accessories like radiation safety glasses play a critical role in total-body radiation defense during procedures.
Why Does Extending Garment Life Matter?
One of the most significant reasons why extending garment life matters is the costs involved in replacing PPE. Garments, such as lead aprons, aren’t cheap due to:
Manufacturing costs to source pure heavy metals like lead
The detailed process to produce a sturdy lead layer that shields wearers
The need for a durable outer fabric that encases the lead layer
Having to test garments after production to ensure they meet quality standards
Increased demand for lead garments and shortages in recent years, as detailed in studies, such as one from the Journal of Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology
Each of these aspects, and more, contributes to garment costs and adds up when medical facilities consistently need to purchase new PPE. High-quality radiation protection aprons are an investment in both safety and long-term savings.
For example, prices for a basic 0.5 mm lead wraparound apron from Burlington Medical start at $612. Burlington Medical is a high-quality manufacturer that produces PPE that’s worth the cost, but it’s important to maintain it to extend each garment’s lifespan. Otherwise, having to replace tens or hundreds of aprons consistently adds up. These garments rely on durable protective material designed to resist radiation while withstanding daily wear.
What Are the Real Costs of Frequent Garment Replacement?
There are also other garment replacement costs that healthcare facilities need to consider beyond the prices of each garment. Those include:
Decreased productivity: Facilities that are constantly short on PPE will encounter productivity constraints, such as having to delay procedures to have time to procure the necessary protective garments. That can affect both the facility’s success and patient outcomes.
Safety concerns: Having garments consistently develop concerning amounts of wear and tear poses a safety concern. A study from Radiography Open found that damage such as cracks, holes, or tears in garments can reduce their shielding capabilities.
Waste management and disposal: When replacing PPE, facilities must dispose of or recycle old garments. It adds costs since medical waste containing lead requires specialized handling and processing to minimize its impact on the environment. Properly maintained radiation equipment complements PPE in minimizing exposure risks during imaging or interventional procedures.
How Does Proper Maintenance Delay Disposal Needs?
Proper radiation protection garment maintenance can delay disposal needs in several ways:
It helps identify small damage before it gets out of hand. A study from the Journal of Health Physics found that small tears can progress by up to 270% in 10 months, so identifying damage early is crucial.
Repairs can be performed to extend garment lifespans and ensure they’re as effective as possible.
Deep cleaning and disinfection can also reduce garment contamination and the spread of harmful microorganisms. Ensuring proper storage of aprons—such as avoiding folds or creases—can significantly prevent internal layer damage.
What Are the Key Factors That Shorten Garment Life?
Any type of physical damage can shorten the lifespan of protective garments. Some will happen naturally during regular clinical use when clinicians are bending, moving around, and coming into contact with objects in the operating room that cause damage. Natural wear and tear is a significant reason why regular garment inspections are essential. These garments are essential in shielding clinicians from ionizing radiation, which can pose serious long-term health risks.
Improper storage can also contribute. For instance, a study published in the Journal of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology found that 68.2% of lead aprons analyzed in a medical facility were defective, likely due to improper storage. It’s important to avoid folding lead aprons since folding or creasing can damage the internal lead layer. Instead, hang them from sturdy storage racks or roll them like a beach towel during transport. Even minimal damage may reduce their ability to block harmful radiation during clinical procedures.
How Do Contamination and Poor Cleaning Affect Durability?
Infection control information from the CDC emphasizes that all high-touch objects in medical settings require regular deep cleaning and disinfection. The primary reason is that high-touch objects, such as medical equipment or PPE, have high contamination rates that pose a significant infection risk without proper deep cleaning practices.
Additionally, microorganisms or harsh contaminants can cause wear on garments over time, reducing their lifespan. AORN recommends performing quarterly deep cleaning for all high-touch objects in medical facilities, including PPE, to completely remove harmful contaminants before they get out of hand. This is part of maintaining adequate radiation protection throughout the entire PPE lifecycle.
What Types of Physical Damage Occur Over Time?
The main types of damage seen in PPE are cracks, holes, or tears in either the outer fabric or the inner lead layer. Any type of damage is dangerous since it can affect how garments fit and may allow more radiation to get through. Keeping staff properly protected ensures both their long-term health and continued procedural performance.
A 2018 study recommended performing regular radiographic scans of all PPE used in medical facilities since it was the best way to identify small pinholes in garments that typically aren’t identifiable through visual or tactile inspections. This approach also applies to other forms of radiation protection apparel, including thyroid collars and lead gloves.
When Do Garments Fail Integrity Inspections?
A study from K. Lambert and T. McKeon established strict rejection criteria for lead aprons and other PPE. The findings suggest that garments should be replaced when:
Defects exceed 15 mm² over critical organs, such as the thyroid, gonads, or breasts
Defects exceed 670 mm² along seams, the back, or in overlapping areas
Defects exceed 11 mm² for thyroid shields
When we perform integrity inspections at Radiological Care Services (RCS), we measure each garment against these criteria to guide teams on when replacement should take place. Complementary gear like lead glasses is equally important to protect ocular tissue from scattered radiation.
How Can You Extend Garment Life Through Proper Care?
Proper lead apron care can help you extend the lifespan of garments through daily practices, regular radiographic inspections, and deep cleaning and disinfection.
What Daily Maintenance Practices Help?
Using the appropriate garment storage methods is crucial to prevent damage and extend the lifespan of PPE. As mentioned, it’s best to hang garments when possible or roll them like a beach towel during transport.
Additionally, wiping down PPE after use with disposable microfiber cloths can help reduce some surface-level dirt and germs. However, deep cleaning and disinfection are necessary to remove tougher biofilms and microorganisms, so daily wipe downs on their own aren’t enough.
How Does Professional Cleaning vs. Surface Wiping Impact Longevity?
When facilities only use wipes and sprays to clean garments, it doesn’t apply enough friction or intensity to completely remove tough bacteria and microorganisms. Dr. Kathleen Jones states that wipes and sprays don’t completely remove harsh microorganisms, so they remain on the garment’s surface to regrow and become worse over time.
As mentioned, having bacteria remain on garments can degrade the material and shorten their lifespan. Therefore, cleaning and disinfection techniques recommended by the CDC, such as applying friction and using EPA-approved cleaning products, are essential to achieve the best results.
We provide deep cleaning and disinfection services at RCS following recommendations by governing bodies like the CDC to remove harsh contaminants from PPE and make this process more efficient for busy medical facilities.
What Repair Services Can Save Garments?
Lead apron repairs can save garments when small defects are identified early. When you partner with us at RCS, we offer complimentary garment repairs for defects identified during inspections and will perform quality testing to ensure all PPE is in appropriate working condition after repair.
When Should You Inspect Garments for Replacement?
Understanding how frequently you should inspect PPE is crucial to ensure defects can be identified and recorded early to keep your staff and patients safe. Here are some recommendations:
How Often Should You Perform Integrity Checks?
We recommend performing annual garment integrity inspections using X-ray scanning. We provide inspection services at RCS to make managing regular radiographic scans easier.
How Do You Document Garment Condition Over Time?
It’s important to establish an organized system to document when you performed inspections, deep cleaning, and repairs. Having the information readily available will ensure your facility keeps a regular schedule to perform maintenance services and be prepared in case of audits.
Our RADCOMPLY™ software at RCS can help with this. It keeps a full record of your inventory, and we update it each time you send your garments in for maintenance so you have the information readily available.
How Do Professional Services Maximize Garment ROI?
Outsourcing garment maintenance to professional services can help maximize ROI by helping medical facilities operate more efficiently, providing in-depth service that extends garment lifespans, and recording necessary information so you’re prepared in case of audits.
What Does Comprehensive Garment Management Include?
Radiation protection equipment management provided by professional services like ours at RCS can include:
Deep cleaning and disinfection to remove any dirt, germs, and contaminants
Inspections using radiographic scanning to identify small damage early, such as tiny pinholes
Garment repairs for any damage found during inspection
Garment disposal that aligns with regulations established by the EPA, OSHA, and other governing bodies
Inventory management to document cleaning, repairs, and inspection in an organized software like RADCOMPLY™
Each of these services can help extend lead apron life (and the lifespan of other PPE) and ensure your staff and patients remain as safe as possible during procedures.
What’s the Complete Lifecycle Management Strategy?
Managing the complete X-ray garment lifecycle includes:
Procuring PPE from high-quality manufacturers
Ensuring appropriate PPE use during procedures and cleaning and storing it properly after use
Performing regular maintenance through annual inspections, quarterly deep cleaning and disinfection, and repairs
Determining when PPE has reached the end of its lifespan, disposing of it according to regulations from the EPA, and procuring garment replacements
Busy healthcare facilities that need to manage the stages of the garment lifecycle can rely on our services at RCS. We can assist with garment procurement from top manufacturers, regular maintenance, and tracking inventory and servicing records. All of our services follow recommendations from governing bodies, such as the CDC, AORN, and the EPA.
Contact us today to learn more about how RCS can make a difference for you.