Facility Design

 Our top recommended considerations when designing a new X-Ray Facility:

• Comply with all laws and regulations of Food and Drug Administration and your state and/or local agencies that deal with radiation producing equipment.

  • Depending on the type of equipment you will be utilizing, you may need to comply with other regulations such as wastewater discharge.

  • These laws and regulations include requirements for the design of your x-ray facility, radiation protection for your patients and others in the vicinity of your x-ray equipment, radiation monitoring, record keeping, incident reporting (if any), maintenance and inspection of your equipment, and continuing education requirements.

• Insist that the company you are dealing with be registered with your state or local governing body for radiation producing equipment.

  • Do not hesitate to ask for the company’s registration number.

• Avoid companies that exclusively use subcontractors for design, installation, training, or service.

  • These are referred to in the industry as “sales companies”. Selling is their only expertise and that is all that they do. Once they make a sale, you have to deal with their subcontractors

• Keep in mind your future plans for the practice.

  • For example, if you expect to convert to digital x-ray in the future, it is much less expensive to install network cables at the time of initial construction versus having it installed after all drywall work is completed.

• During the design phase, keep in mind your planned workflow for now and for the future.

• Consider the following questions :

  • Where will you review studies and how will the studies get to you?

  • Will your x-ray tech have other responsibilities?

  • If a tech is responsible for retrieving prior films, is the film library in the area of the x-ray room?