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re: Electronic Personal Dosimeters



I'd like to share my opinion of the Siemens EPD2....

We have had two Siemens EPD2s here at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute since 
1993, and we like them.  We have primarily used them in some of our clinical 
areas, where staff are frequently in contact with patients who have undergone 
diagnostic nuclear medicine studies.  We wanted to assure the staff that even 
though the patients are radioactive, the actual exposure one gets from them 
is quite low.  We like it that the person wearing the EPD2 can see the 
exposure rate and the cumulative exposure any time he or she wants.

Another application we have used the EPD2s is with declared pregnant women in 
our biomedical research areas.  Although one's occupational exposure in our 
labs is almost always 0 (no more than natural background, that is), because 
the pregnant workers are especially aware of their environment and radiation 
exposure, giving them and EPD2 always makes them feel more comfortable. 
By the way, we do not solely rely on the EPD2 to give the documented exposure 
for the pregnant woman; we still use film badges.  Still, we find that using 
the EPD2 is an excellent supplement to the monitoring program.

There is a great deal of education that needs to go on before I hand an EPD2 
to someone for use and to be able to interpret the measurements.  The EPD2 
accumulates natural background, about 0.2-0.3 mrem per day, and unless we 
specifically tell the person about it, they think the 0.2-0.3 mrem is an 
occupational exposure.

The only drawback we have encountered with our EPD2s is near an 
electromagnetic field, even from a computer monitor.  If a field is strong 
enough, it will put the dosemeter into alarm, and it will indicate a high 
radiation exposure.  If we don't take note of the exposure reading 
beforehand, thea previous exposure info gets lost.  So we also instruct staff 
to keep the dosemeters away from electromagnetic fields.

This is just my opinion, and I hope it helps.  

Steven Alford, M.S.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
*  Steven J. Alford, M.S.       |  Dana-Farber Cancer Institute *
*  Radiation Safety Officer     |  44 Binney St.                *
*                               |  Boston, MA, 02115            *    
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