NRC TO DISCUSS APPARENT VIOLATIONS WITH WASHINGTON, D.C., HOSPITAL

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>]

Courtesy of MEDHP-SEC Listsever



NRC TO DISCUSS APPARENT VIOLATIONS WITH WASHINGTON, D.C., 

HOSPITAL  



Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with

representatives of a Washington, D.C., hospital on

Wednesday, February 20, to discuss several apparent

violations of NRC regulations related to the use of a

specific type of nuclear medicine at the facility.



The meeting, known as a predecisional enforcement

conference, pertains to Providence Hospital, which is

located at 1150 Varnum Street in Washington, D.C. It is

scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. in the Public Meeting Room

at the NRC Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa., and

will be open to the public for observation.



Based on an inspection conducted last year, the NRC has

identified apparent violations involving Providence

Hospital's strontium-90 eye applicator program, under

which radiation is used to treat eye abnormalities.

Specifically, the NRC has determined there were the

following apparent failures:



  1.)	the hospital's Radiation Safety Committee did not

 oversee the use of licensed material through an

 annual review of the radiation safety program;



  2.)	final treatment plans and related calculations were

 not verified to ensure they were consistent with

 written directives prepared prior to treatments;



  3.)	any unintended deviations from the written

 directives were not identified and evaluated; and



  4.)	annual audits of the quality management program for

 the strontium-90 eye treatments were not conducted

 in 1998, 1999 and 2000.



According to calculations made by the NRC - and

subsequently confirmed by the hospital - a total of 14

strontium-90 eye applicator treatments administered

between August 1996 and October 2000 exceeded prescribed

radiation doses by more than 20 percent and are therefore

considered misadministrations. However, a medical

consultant hired by the NRC concluded the patients

involved did not suffer any adverse effects as a result

of the misadministrations.



The decision to hold a predecisional enforcement

conference does not mean that the NRC has determined that

any violations occurred or that enforcement action will

be taken. Rather, the purpose of the meeting is to

gather information to assist the NRC in making an

enforcement decision.

----------

The above may be viewed on the NRC Web site at URL:



  http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/archive/02-005i.html



------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandy Perle				Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   

Director, Technical			Extension 2306

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service	Fax:(714) 668-3149 	           

ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.		E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net

ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  	E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com   

Costa Mesa, CA 92626                    



Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com





************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line. You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/