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Re: Code of Brachytherapy Patients
Please send me a copy of the manual
Thank you
Sergio
Karin Gordon wrote:
> I assume you are referring to manually afterloaded vaginal/uterine
> applicators. When we were still doing those, we trained nursing staff
> how to quickly remove the source rods and transfer them to the lead pig
> kept close to the bed. We developed a training manual for this
> procedure, which I would be happy to forward to you if you wish. The
> special training conisted of a 1-hour seminar featuring a close review
> of the instructions in the manual and a hands-on practical
> demonstration. We had a skeleton pelvis into which we had
> semi-permanently installed the applicators, so that we could demonstrate
> insertion and removal of (dummy) source rods with the special forceps
> for the job. Each participant in the seminar was required to insert and
> remove the source rods in our dummy "brachy patient"at least once, to
> get a sense of the "feel" of the procedure. All of these nurses had
> also undergone our basic brachytherapy radiation safety training
> program. Nursing staff assigned to these patients were required to wear
> TLDs and personal digital alarming dosimeters (PADs) - the latter
> provide an extremely valuable feedback tool which really helped the
> staff keep their doses ALARA - we noticed a considerable drop in doses
> recorded by TLDs after we instituted the PADs.
>
> We are now doing high dose rate brachytherapy in our radiotherapy
> department using a selectron unit, so have discontinued the LDR manual
> afterloading program on the ward.
>
> Let me know if you want more information.
>
> Karin
> ************************************************************************
> ************************
> Karin Gordon
> Radiation Safety Office
> Health Sciences Centre
> GC-214, 820 SherbrookSt.
> Winnipeg, Manitoba
> CANADA R3A 1R9
>
> KGordon@hsc.mb.ca or KGordon@cc.UManitoba.ca
>
> phone (204) 787-2903
> fax (204) 787-1313
>
> >----------
> >From: SMarlette@aol.com[SMTP:SMarlette@aol.com]
> >Sent: January 6, 1999 7:55 AM
> >To: Multiple recipients of list
> >Subject: Code of Brachytherapy Patients
> >
> >Dear Radsafers;
> >I apologize if this subject has been kicked around before. I am looking for
> >suggestions of how to handle the potential event of a brachytherapy needing
> >emergency surgery or coding. The probability is small, but if a code should
> >happen they really can't wait for the doc or physicist to arrive in the
> >middle
> >of the night. Do you just perform the code then evaluate the exposures to
> >the
> >code team or try to maintain trained individuals to remove the implant during
> >the early stages of the code? There are so many people involved in a code
> >and
> >the probability of loss of control of the sources seems to outweigh the risk
> >of the radiation to the team. Does AAPM or anyone have guidelines?
> >Thanks.
> >************************************************************************
> >The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
> >information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html
> >
> ************************************************************************
> The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
> information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html
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The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html