Re: Laboratories Returning Dosimetry

[John Pickering <johnjp@email.sjsu.edu>]

Bob,

I have administered such a program before at a pharmaceutical company. When
I started there the return rate was about 70%. We use to mail the badges to
them and they would mail the old ones back. The return rate was poor and the
time took most of the month (they were on monthly exchange). I tried
different techniques to change the process without success. Then I changed
the procedure to have the radiation safety staff changing the badges
directly. I had a staff of three technicians. Each were given a geographical
area to support to include changing the badges. I gave the technicians a
little incentive. If they changed the badges for their area within 3 days a
positive comment went into their evaluations. A 5 day exchange, no comment.
Longer than 7 day exchange a negative comment went into the evaluation.
After two months, all of the badges (routinely) were exchanged within 2
working days. We never had a negative comment from the regulatory agency,
although our inspector at the time checked the records very carefully. He
had difficulty in believing us that the badges were exchanged within 3
working days until he reviewed our records and talked to our technicians.
This procedure also gave me something to use in our employee evaluation
process. Our technicans always did very well there. They knew how to be
successful and I made it possible for them to get there. They were upset at
first with this new procedure, but later liked the reward process. In
general, it worked. 

John Pickering
johnjp@email.sjsu.edu


At 08:50 AM 4/12/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi! This question is for radiation safety professional at medical research
>centers and hospitals that use a large number of film badges. How
>successful are you at getting research and hospital staff to return their
>dosimetry in a timely manner? There are over 1000 researchers with
>dosimetry here and only 70% of them return their badges. I find this number
>rather high. We have implemented fees on unreturned badges, but the cost
>does not seem to matter to them. What is the percentage of returned badges
>at your institution and how do you twist their arms to comply?
>
>You can email your response directly to caspar@aecom.yu.edu.
>
>Thanx,
>Bob
>
>
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