The Roles of Medical Health Physicists in a Medical Radiation Emergency

Abstract

Medical health physicists working in a clinical setting will have a number of key roles in the event of a nuclear or radiological emergency, such as a terrorist attack involving a radiological dispersal device or an improvised nuclear device. Their first responsibility, of course, is to assist hospital administrators and facility managers in developing radiological emergency response plans for their facilities and train staff prior to an emergency. During a hospital's response to a nuclear or radiological emergency, medical health physicists may be asked to (1) evaluate the level of radiological contamination in or on incoming victims; (2) help the medical staff evaluate and understand the significance to patient and staff of the levels of radioactivity with which they are dealing; (3) orient responding medical staff with principles of dealing with radioactive contaminants; (4) provide guidance to staff on decontamination of patients, facilities, and the vehicles in which patients were transported; and (5) assist local public health authorities in monitoring people who are not injured but who have been or are concerned that they may have been exposed to radioactive materials or radiation as a result of the incident. Medical health physicists may also be called upon to communicate with staff, patients, and the media on radiological issues related to the event. Materials are available from a number of sources to assist in these efforts. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is developing guidance in the areas of radiological population monitoring, handling contaminated fatalities, and using hospital equipment for emergency monitoring. CDC is also developing training and information materials that may be useful to medical health physicists who are called upon to assist in developing facility response plans or respond to a nuclear or radiological incident. Comments on these materials are encouraged.

Radiological Emergency Preparedness: A Survey of Nuclear Medicine Technologists in the United States

“…Radi ological emergency preparedness has been gaining increased attention due to recent events such as the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear emergency (1-3), which revealed a shortage of experts in the field of radiation and radionuclide detection (4). In the United States, public health agencies and first-response organizations are experiencing the same issue and are beginning to build partnerships to expand their capability to respond to emergencies involving radioactive materials (4)(5)(6)(7)(8).…”

“…NMTs are a valuable resource because of their knowledge and daily dealings with radioactive materials, and the education of NMTs in health physics, radiation biology, radiation safety, decontamination, and patient care can be helpful during a radiological emergency (8,9). NMTs can participate as part of a local radiological emergency response team.…”

“…NMTs can participate as part of a local radiological emergency response team. In this capacity, an NMT can provide expertise to assist with radiological dose assessments, population monitoring, development of radiological emergency response plans, and determination of the extent of contamination (8). NMTs who work in a hospital setting can also serve as a resource to their hospital when it is planning for and responding to a radiological emergency.…”

Knowledge on radiation emergency preparedness among nuclear medicine technologists

“…Nuclear medicine technologists (NMTs) have the expertise because of their daily work with radioactive materials (Pomerleau et al, 2013). Moreover, NMTs' education in health physics, radiation biology, radiation safety, decontamination, and patient care can be helpful during a radiation emergency (Miller et al, 2007;SNMMI, 2017). Therefore, their expertise can be utilized during radiological accidents.…”

Risk Communication Considerations to Facilitate the Screening of Mass Populations for Potential Contamination with Radioactive Material

“…The design of the exercise was based on the very plausible involvement of surge capacity organizations in mass contamination screening efforts (Miller and Erdman 2004;Miller et al 2005Miller et al , 2007Musolino and Harper 2006). The exercise revealed that while drill participants were generally attentive to the proper use of protective equipment and radiation detectors, they tended to overlook important basic risk communication aspects.…”