Health Education England elearning for healthcare (HEE elfh) has worked in partnership with the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine to add a new radiotherapy module to the Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations (IR(ME)R) elearning programme.
The e-IRMER programme is a free training resource aimed at non-specialist staff working in radiotherapy. It may also provide a useful introductory/refresher resource for trainees and some staff working in the radiotherapy department.
The programme comprises the following topics:

• Interpretation of the regulations
• The basic physics associated with ionising radiations
• The risks associated with ionising radiations
• The radio-biological effects of exposure to ionising radiations
• The production of X-rays
•  The application of ionising radiations for diagnostic X-ray imaging
• The application of ionising radiations in nuclear medicine
• The application of ionising radiations for radiotherapy
• Practical examples of the roles of duty holders
• Practical examples of how to reduce patients’ exposures to ionising radiations

The new radiotherapy session, which takes approximately 30 minutes to complete, describes the principles of IR(ME)R in application to imaging and therapeutic exposures in radiotherapy. The session includes the following topics:

• Patient pathway
• Duty holders
• Referral
• Pregnancy and identification enquiries
• Justification
• Authorisation
• Optimisation
• Dose assessment, assurance and evaluation
• Accidental and unintended exposures
• Equipment and quality assurance
• Carers and comforters
• Brachytherapy/molecular radiotherapy and Administration of Radioactive Substances Advisory Committee (ARSAC) licenses
• Medical physics experts

For more information and to access the resource, please visit the e-IRMER programme page.