Radiation Protection for Medical and Allied Health Personnel: Recommendations of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements

National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements

Jan 1976 · NCRP

About this ebook

"In hospital radiation facilities of all types, safety procedures for protecting radiation workers and the general public must be carefully planned and supervised and controlled by a qualified staff member. To meet currently accepted standards for protection, the potential exposures of workers and anyone else in or near a radiation area are evaluated and precautions taken to avert the possibility of exceeding, or even approaching, the permissible radiation levels. Radiation workers employed in these facilities are informed about these safety procedures. However, there are various individuals involved in the delivery of medical care, or in research, who are not usually categorized as radiation workers. Their duties may occasionally take them into areas where radiation or radioactive materials are present. For want of a better term, we may group many of these individuals under the title of "allied health personnel." Among these are physicians, nurses, technicians, and others who are not classified as radiation workers, but who occasionally have to deal with radioactive materials or with patients who have received radiopharmaceuticals. In addition, there are others, not directly involved in the care of patients or research, who may incidentally be exposed to radiation in the course of their work. Such, for instance, are personnel in institutional shipping and receiving rooms; and those engaged in hospital maintenance work. Many of these people are concerned about radiation hazards and often suffer misconceptions regarding the subject. They sometimes work without instruction or guidance. Sometimes they seek out someone to ask questions about radiation and do receive from them careful answers to their questions. Too often, however, they are simply told that everything is all right and that they have no cause to worry. One purpose of this report is to note the types of problems encountered, and try to give approaches to handling them. The Radiation Protection Supervisor is usually aware of potential hazards within an institution, but sometimes the problems are not evident even to him." --From Preface, pages iii-iv.