Professional Review of Radiation Protection Governance Frameworks at University Teaching Hospitals in South East Nigeria

Radiation protection governance at Nigerian university teaching hospitals encompasses regulatory compliance, institutional radiation safety committee functions, occupational dosimetry management, and patient dose monitoring systems that collectively determine the adequacy of protection for staff, patients, and the public. A professional review of radiation protection governance frameworks at South East Nigerian teaching hospitals provides an evidence base for targeted improvement. This study conducts a professional review of radiation protection governance frameworks at teaching hospitals in Enugu, Imo, and Anambra States. A professional institutional audit methodology is applied, reviewing radiation safety documentation including occupational dose records, radiation protection committee minutes, local rules documents, controlled and supervised area designations, and annual equipment dose rate surveys across seven teaching hospital radiology departments. Structured interviews with radiation protection supervisors and hospital Radiation Protection Officers supplement the documentation review. Governance quality scores are computed and compared across institutions. Available radiation protection governance literature from South East Nigerian teaching hospitals identifies non-functioning radiation protection committees, absent or grossly outdated local rules documents, and intermittent occupational dosimetry monitoring as the most prevalent governance failures. The IAEA Safety Standards SSG-46 Radiation Protection and Safety in Medical Uses and the NNRA licensing framework provide the evaluative reference. Findings are expected to reveal significant inter-institutional governance quality variation with common documentation and committee function deficiencies. Recommendations address a South East Nigeria teaching hospital radiation protection governance benchmarking group and standardised annual governance self-assessment tools. Keywords: radiation protection governance, teaching hospitals, South East Nigeria, radiation safety, occupational dosimetry.