NRF RATING
| C2
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POSITION
| Visiting Research Fellow (2024-2029)
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QUALIFICATIONS
| Bachelor of Radiography: Diagnostic (University of the Free State)
Honors Radiography: Diagnostic (University of the Free State)
Tertiary Education Diploma: Radiography (University of South Africa)
Magister Technologiae Radiography: Diagnostic (Central University of Technology)
Ph.D. Health Professions Education (University of the Free State)
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PORTFOLIO
| The occupational radiation safety culture was researched and evaluated with an audit checklist at four interventional sites in 2019, for optimal compliance, especially regarding wearing dosimeters, protective devices, methods to optimise occupational protection, and exposure to the eyes, thyroid, hands, and feet of the team.
The audit checklist tool successfully determined areas at each site where improvements are needed to optimise the safety culture in terms of the radiation protection principles of distance, time, shielding and dose monitoring.
The current research focus is to implement, optimise and maintain the radiation protection culture by engaging all theatre staff in a regular review with a mobile application.
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AREAS OF EXPERTISE
| - Radiation protection and safety during interventional procedures.
- Standardised training and assessment in radiation safety for diagnostic radiographers.
- Implementing the ionising radiation protection culture during interventional procedures by a mobile application (savvyRAD).
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PUBLICATIONS
| - 2021. Van der Merwe, B. Establishing ionising radiation safety culture during interventional cardiovascular procedures. Cardiovascular Journal of Africa, Cardiovasc J Afr. 2021 Aug 18;32:1-5. doi:10.5830/CVJA-2021-030. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34405852.
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34405852/ Journal CVJA Volume 32 no 5, Sept/Oct p 271-275 ISSN 1995-1892 (print), ISSN 1680-0745 (online) http://www.cvja.co.za/onlinejournal/vol32/vol32_issue5/40/
- 2022. Toua, L., Van der Merwe, B. and Van der Linde, B. Chest radiography: optimising the radiation dose at industrial mines in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. Occupational Health Southern Africa. Occup Health Southern Afr. 2022; 28(1):5-10. https://www.occhealth.co.za/index.php?p=issue&i=342
- 2022. Horn-Lodewyk, J., Van der Merwe, B., Kali, G.M. and Munro, L. Evaluating the knowledge and training of forensic pathologists and registrars performing forensic radiography at a forensic pathology mortuary in the Free State province, South Africa. Health SA Gesondheid 27(0), a2014. https://doi. org/10.4102/hsag.v27i0.2014
- 2022. Van der Merwe, B. The 6th International Symposium on the System of Radiological Protection (ICRP 2021+1). Application of the basic optimization tools of occupational radiological protection during interventional procedures " 7 - 10 November 2022. Vancouver, Canada: Learning Toolbox (ltb.io) Virtual ePoster. Learning Toolbox Viewer (ltb.io)
- 2022. Sebelego, I., Acho, S., Van der Merwe, B. and Rae, I.D. Conference abstract ISRRT (Bangkok). Size specific dose estimates for Computed Tomography cancer patients at an Oncology hospital. Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences. Volume 53, Issue 4, Supplement 1, 2022. Page S14. ISSN 1939-8654. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmir.2022.10.047.
- 2023. Sebelego, I., Acho, S., Van der Merwe, B. and Rae, I.D. Factors influencing size-specific dose estimates of selected computed tomography protocols at two clinical practices in South Africa, Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 2023; ncad059, https://doi.org/10.1093/rpd/ncad059
- 2023. Sebelego, I., Acho, S., Van der Merwe, B. and Rae, I.D. Size based dependence of patient dose metrics, and image quality metrics for clinical indicator-based imaging protocols in abdominal CT procedures https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radi.2023.07.011
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BOOK(S) OR CHAPTER(S) IN BOOK(S)
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PRESENTED CONFERENCES, SEMINARS, WORKSHOPS
| - 2023 The 8th World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery. Radiation Safety Culture Mobile Application. Poster presented on 28 August, Washington DC.
- 2023 SA Heart Congress. Application of the basic optimization tools of occupational radiological protection during interventional procedures. 26-29 September, Sandton.
- 2023 SORSA Congress. Establishing ionising radiation safety culture during interventional cardiovascular procedures. 18-19 August, Cape Town.
- 2023 SORSA Congress. Exploring stop-motion animation as a radiation protection teaching strategy for radiography students. 18-19 August, Cape Town.
- 2022 6th Annual International Conference on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) in Higher Education. Radiography students' perceptions of the online simulation teaching tools Ziltron and Shaderware. (with Horn-Lodewyk and Du Plessis). 6-7 October. CUT Bloemfontein.
- 2021 1st Joint SAintS | SAFIRE congress. POSTER. Radiation safety culture: Vascular interventional procedures. 22-24 October 2021, Century City, Cape Town.
- 2020 Prestige Research Day (PRD 2020). Establishing Ionising Radiation Safety Culture During Interventional Cardiovascular Procedures. October 28, CUT, Bloemfontein.
- 2020 5th Annual International Conference on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) in Higher Education. Promoting new pedagogies and teaching practices in higher education. Utilising video for a physics ASSIGNMENT during COVID-19 to adhere to social distancing. 8 October 2020, CUT, Bloemfontein.
- 2020 Nursing 2020. Plenary speaker. 9th World Congress on Nursing and Healthcare. Radiation protection of health care workers- the call for action. 20-22 February, Philadelphia (USA).
- 2020 Cardiology: Universitas hospital. Audit of distance, time and
shielding. Cathlab staff- 9 participants. 16 January, Bloemfontein. - 2019 Cardiology Academic Open Day: Universitas hospital. Audit of distance, time and shielding. 22 November, Bloemfontein.
- 2019 SAAHE 2019. Challenge to change healthcare for 2030. Empower students for the operating theatre. 26-28 June, UFS, Bloemfontein.
- 2019 6th INNOVATION in Learning and Teaching conference. Interdepartmental simulation to enhance teaching and learning by promoting university values in diverse environments. 20-21 June, Japie van Lill, CUT, Bloemfontein.
- 2019 European Society of Radiologists (ESR) 2019. Flexible learning off-campus for radiography students in clinical practice. Voice of EPOS #0494. 27 February, Vienna, Austria.
2019 CUT radiation safety awareness project at Finsch mine Petra Diamonds. 18 February, Northern Cape, Lime Acres.
2019 Refresher Training for Nurses. Netcare theatre, Pelonomi hospital. 30 February, Bloemfontein.
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EXTERNAL PROFILES
| LinkedIn
ResearchGate
Google Scholar
OrcID
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Dr Van Der Merwe Belinda
Tel:
bevdmerwe@cut.ac.za