Abstract: Objective To analyze and understand the individual dose of occupational external exposure among medical radiation workers in a nuclear-specialized tertiary Grade A general hospital in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, and to evaluate the effectiveness of its protection and related management. Methods Data on the annual individual exposure doses of all radiation workers in this hospital from 2021 to 2024 were collected and organized. A retrospective analysis of the collected data was conducted using statistical analysis software (SPSS). Results The median of annual effective dose for workers in this hospital from 2021 to 2024 was 0.34 mSv. The highest dose was observed in 2023 (0.38 mSv), and the lowest in 2024 (0.28 mSv), with a statistically significant difference (P<0.01). Comparison among different job categories showed that the sample number for dental radiology was too small to be included in the discussion. Radiotherapy workers received the lowest annual effective dose (0.24 mSv), while nuclear medicine workers received a dose of 0.44 mSv, with a statistically significant difference (P<0.01). There was no statistically significant difference in the annual effective dose between male and female workers (P>0.05). Conclusions The current status of radiation protection in this hospital is generally safe and effectively safeguards the occupational health of radiation workers. It is recommended to continuously monitor the individual doses and occupational health examination results of medical workers in different radiation job categories, adhering to the principle of optimizing protection.

Key words: radiation workers, external exposure, personal dose