Re: Radioisotope misadministrations

["J. J. Rozental" <josrozen@netmedia.net.il>]

Dear Professor Gibbs

Your last remark remind me the words of  Dr Hans Blik  addressing the IAEA
document written on the  Radiological Accident in Goiania: "The fact that
accidents are uncommon should not, however, give grounds for complacency."

Kind Regards,

J. J. Rozental
josrozen@netmedia.net.il



At 10:30 AM 5/12/99 -0500, you wrote:
>The report of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commissionon 
>radioisotope misadministrations in FY1996 actually totaled 
>13 occurrences in brachytherapy and 7 in nuclear medicine.  
>I strongly suspect that these are the result of human 
>error, although use of inadequately trained personnel could 
>have been a factor.  Such accidents are intolerable and all 
>efforts must be made to eliminate them.
>It is informative to put these data in context.  It has 
>been estimated that some 7.5 million nuclear medicine 
>procedures and about 700,000 brachytherapy procedures are 
>performed per year in the US.  Thus the misadministration 
>rate (order of magnitude)is about one per million for 
>nuclear medicine and ten per million for brachytherapy.  
>These are "small number statistics" and I suspect that 
>there is no significant difference between these two rates. 
>I further suspect that these rates are probably lower than 
>those for misadministration of medicine, either from error 
>in prescribing by the physician or error in providing the 
>prescribed medication by the pharmacist.
>All possible effort should be made to eliminate these 
>errors.  However, it is unlikely that human perfection can 
>ever be achieved.  We readily accept imperfection in most 
>human activities--but not medicine.
>***********************************************************
>S. Julian Gibbs, DDS, PhD               Voice: 615-322-3190
>Professor of Radiology                    FAX: 615-322-3764 
>Dept. of Radiology & Radiological Sciences
>Vanderbilt University Medical Center
>Nashville TN 37232-2670 Email:s.julian.gibbs@vanderbilt.edu
>***********************************************************
>If it's free, it's advice;
>If you pay for it, it's counseling;
>If you can use either one, it's a miracle!
>
>************************************************************************
>The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
>information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html
>
>
jjrozental

************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html