Performance Evaluation of Diagnostic X-Ray Equipment Regarding the Hospital Size in the Republic of Korea

The Republic of Korea has developed a national standard based on which diagnostic X-ray equipment must be tested every 3 years. Accordingly, the performance of X-ray equipment used in all hospitals is evaluated by national certification bodies in compliance with the safety management regulations for X-ray equipment. However, if the equipment is non-compliant, its use must be stopped until it satisfies the accepted standards.
In compliance with the safety management regulations for diagnostic X-ray equipment, hospitals in this study were divided into two groups, namely the general hospital group and the clinic group with diagnostic X-ray equipment. The samples in this study were composed of 11 and 18 machines selected randomly from general hospitals and clinics, respectively, which satisfied the acceptance standards since last year in both groups. The evaluation of diagnostic X-ray machines was based on the results obtained from X-ray tube voltage, tube current, exposure time accuracy, and the X-ray dose reproducibility.
The X-ray machines of the general hospital group followed all national standards. However, those of the clinic group failed to satisfy the requirements of tube voltage, tube current, exposure time accuracy, and X-ray dose reproducibility.
Clinics require their own quality control to reduce unnecessary medical radiation exposure due to the poor X-ray equipment performance. Moreover, it is suggested that the test period of the safety management regulations on diagnostic X-ray equipment need to be shorter than three years.