Re: low positive doses

["Kenneth Douglass" <KDOUGLAS@WVUHSC1.HSC.WVU.EDU>]

I have been following the discussion of low positive badge readings. 
I have been compiling some statistics from our film badge reports 
from 1996. For the year we had 6458 reports (total of hospital and 
university). Of these 85% were Minimal (<10 mrem) and 14% were from 10 
to 90 mrem. Less than 1% of the total readings were >= 100 mrem; all 
of these were from the hospital. 

I don't think the exposures < 100 mrem are worth following up, for 
reasons that have already been stated here. We look at all exposures 
over 100 mrem, but only follow up those that are unusually high for 
the particular department or section.

What concerns me more than the 30 mrem readings are the occassional 
100 - 300 mrem readings for someone who I am sure never was exposed. 
We get two or three of these every year, and they can be difficult to 
explain to someone who is inclined to radiophobia.

Ken



Kenneth H. Douglass, Ph.D.
Director, Radiation Safety
West Virginia University
West Virginia University Hospitals
PO Box 9006
Morgantown WV 26506
(304) 293-1549
(304) 293-4529 (fax)
kdouglas@wvu.edu