External monitoring criteria -Reply

[Marissa Bartlett <BartlettM@health.qld.gov.au>]

>We're working our way 
>away from a philosophy in which we badged nearly everything that 
>breathed towards a more narrowly targeted approach under which we
>would only monitor those workers who met specific criteria.   I'm 
>interested in what monitoring criteria you've established at your 
>facility and how you arrived at those criteria.  

As RSO of a Nucelar Medicine Dept, I've implemented a couple of
alternatives to issuing monthly TLD badges.  One is to set up a TLD
badge as an 'area monitor'.  This works, for example, for our ECG techs
who are only in the vicinity of  radioactivity while in the stress room.
 So, as long as a badge appropriately placed in the stress room doesn't
show a reading, we don't badge the ECG techs.  Also, we have interns
from other depts who only see radioactive patients for a couple of hours
a week.   For those we are really only interested in checking for
accidental exposure from e.g. a big spill.  So we require them to wear a
pocket dosimeter while in our dept, and to record the value after each
session.  This reduces the number of badges we issue and also the number
of badges that end up untraceable bc the intern has moved on and
forgotten to return the badge.

Marissa Bartlett



=======================================
Dr Marissa Bartlett
Dept of Nuclear Medicine
Royal Brisbane Hospital
Herston  4029
Australia

email:  bartlettm@health.qld.gov.au