Health Physics/Radiation Safety

["Richard, Mack L" <mrichar@iupui.edu>]

Radsafers:

In almost every class, lecture, and talk I give about radiation safety,
during my opening remarks I usually include the following 2 statements.
"When I want someone to know what I do, I tell them I'm a Radiation Safety
Officer.  If I don't want them to know, I tell them I'm a Health Physicist."
This is usually good for a couple of chuckles (except at those 7 am
lectures).  I then go on to explain what a health physicist is and does and
how it relates to radiation safety.  I don't see this as a big burden and to
me, the term health physicist implies a broader range of knowledge than
radiation safety officer or radiation safety specialist, etc.  In fact, many
facilities have RSOs that are not really health physicists and/or they wear
multiple hats.  For example, RSOs in relatively small hospitals using
radioactive materials in nuclear medicine or radiation oncology are usually
physicians.  Ask him/her to explain the concept of "effective dose" or how a
personnel monitor (e.g., film badge, TLD, etc.) really works.  My guess is
the majority of those "RSOs" won't have a clue.

To me, the name is secondary to the points raised by Gus Potter regarding
the demise of our profession and another "radsafer" (sorry, I hit the delete
key before I wrote down the name) who mentioned the fact that the industrial
hygienists now appear to view themselves as knowledgeable in radiation
safety.  In the small hospital example above, there isn't enough real health
physics work to justify hiring a true health physicist.  Unfortunately, I'm
finding that idea is beginning to pervade larger programs, including the one
I work in.  I'll refrain from going into that here - if you're interested,
contact me and I'll provide the details.

This situation is also evident in many regulatory agencies.  The next time
you have some type of radiation safety inspection from a regulatory agency,
ask the inspector what his/her background is.  My experience has been that
very few of these inspectors are health physicists.  In the medical/research
area, it seems that many of the inspectors seem to have been nuclear
medicine technologists and/or radiologic technologists in a past life.  In
many cases, these inspectors gradually elevate into management positions in
the regulatory agency.  I'm not picking on NMTs or RTs.  It's just that I
teach radiation safety to NMTs here.  A 10 hour lecture series and a week of
training in our Radiation Safety Office does not qualify an NMT to be a
health physicist.

My whole point is that I agree with Gus - what we call ourselves is
secondary to what is becoming of our profession.  I've been asked to
participate in a couple of high school "career day" programs where I talk
about our profession.  Obviously, one question that students have is what
the future holds (e.g., job opportunities) in health physics.  What do I
tell them?

Regards,
Mack R.


Mack L. Richard, M.S., C.H.P.
Radiation Safety Officer - IUPUI/Indiana Univ. Med. Cntr.
Phone #: (317) 274-0330   Fax #: (317) 274-2332
E-Mail Address:  mrichar@iupui.edu

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