The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on work in radiology departments in selected hospitals in the Czech Republic

In March 2020, the first patients with the disease COVID-19 began to appear in the Czech Republic, therefore measures had to be taken to protect both hospital workers and patients. Hospitals also had to respond to this situation,as health care providers. With the increasing incidence of the epidemic, covid units were created in hospitals, often at the expense of regular beds, but sometimes even entire departments. These restrictions also affected work in the radiology departments, where there were restrictions on planned examinations. The aim of the thesis was to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on work in radiology departments and at the same time to analyze and structure examinations in radiology departments in the period from March 2019 to February 2021 in selected hospitals. In the theoretical part of the thesis, terms from the radiology department are defined, especially examination methods, contrast agents are described and divided, as well as their side effects. The next part is devoted to the principles of radiation protection, its use in the healthcare sector, the protection of radiological workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the last chapter of the theoretical part presents the findings so far about the causative agent of the disease COVID-19, as well as the use of protective equipment. The research part introduces the results of a questionnaire survey among 64 respondents, describes what measures the hospital took to protect staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. The provided data on the number and structure of examinations from individual hospitals was evaluated and analyzed. 86 % of respondents answered that the COVID-19 pandemic affected the number and structure of examinations