Re: Treatment of Contaminated Personnel

[Mike Grissom <mikeg@SLAC.Stanford.EDU>]

Radsafe'ers,

To second Tosh's note below, I have found that preparation of
facilities (psychologically as well as procedurally) for receipt
of potential "radiation casualties" can be greatly expedited by
having the medical team coordination assisted by a nuclear
medicine physician or a radiologist with special competency
in nuclear medicine. These individuals are better able to put
in perspective the hazard of any probable contamination balanced
against the risk to the patient of not receiving care or receiving
care on less than a timely basis. When providing support to a
nuclear facility (power plant, production plant, etc.), you will
often know in advance what the likely sources of contamination
would be and can prepare in advance (including training and
drills).

This approach has generally worked well for me. Keep in mind
that except for first responders (usually EMT and or Fire
Department personnel), the main person to get up to speed is
the key emergency room physician(s) at your major Medical
Treatment Facility (for those patients severely injured).

S.,

MikeG.

At 02:30 PM 2/25/99 -0600, you wrote:
>Though I have responded to Jim privately already on this, I would like to post
>this because this has not been mentioned by others yet.
>
>It has been my experience that doctors (and nurses and EMTs) would listen to
>doctors. More credentials the doctor has, more attention would be paid. I can
>tell the medical staff at a hospital that this level of contamination on a
>victim is inconsequential, and I know this because I'm a (trumpet sound
>please....) CHP. Only response I'm likely to get is a suspicious look, or
get a
>question why someone from California Highway Patrol (CHP) would know this. But
>if a medical doctor tells them the same thing, they would listen, and believe
>him.
>
>So, my recommendation would be to schedule seminars with doctors with good
>public speaking skills and the best credentials you can find.
>
>Tosh Ushino, CHP
>ICN Dosimetry


Michael P. Grissom
Asst Dir (ES&H)
SLAC MS-84
Phone: (650) 926-2346
Fax:   (650) 926-3030
E-mail: mikeg@slac.stanford.edu
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