Pat, In most of the facilities I have worked in (primarily medical and research) the rule was that the DPW declaration was valid for either 1 year from the estimated conception date, or until they personally rescinded the declaration.
That brings up a humorous situation: At one hospital, a radiographer would declare herself pregnant on Wednesday afternoon, and the following Thursday afternoon she would rescind the declaration. Because the Health Physicist couldn't ask for proof of pregnancy, or proof that it was terminated, we would issue a fetal dosimeter and counsel her on Wednesday, and take it back on Thursday. After this happened every week for about a month, we did some investigating. As it turned out, the scaling back the duties for pregnant workers included a temporary prohibition against fluoroscopy. Every Thursday morning the hospital scheduled the radiologist to be present for the barium enemas (which got to be pretty disgusting sometimes). It seemed that this worker was trying to keep herself from doing the undesirable work. Because of this, we re-evaluated the radiation exposure for the duties of a radiographer. It is true that fluoroscopy entails a greater exposure to radiation, but patient prep, patient counseling, injection of barium, and post procedure clean-up do not. Therefore, we concluded that because the declared pregnant worker is freed from the duties of imaging during the fluoroscopy, they can be the first choice for the pre and post procedure activities. This policy change was met with (almost) universal approval, and to my knowledge, that worker didn't get pregnant again for the following 3 years I worked there. So I guess we can conclude that it's not the radiation that makes you sterile, but rather the barium. Respectfully, Dane A. Kappler Health Physicist And father of 10 children From: LaFrate, Patrick Joseph [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2017 5:22 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [powernet] Quick Benchmark on DLR issue period for DPWs **THIS EMAIL IS FROM AN EXTERNAL SENDER OUTSIDE OF THE STPNOC NETWORK. BE CAUTIOUS ABOUT CLICKING LINKS OR OPENING ATTACHMENTS FROM UNKNOWN SOURCES. DO NOT PROVIDE PERSONAL INFORMATION SUCH AS SS#, USER ID/PASSWORD, ETC.** I'm performing a quick informal benchmark to determine the TLD/OSL wear period for Declared Pregnant Workers (DPWs) at other utilities. What is the TLD/OSL wear period at your site for DPWs? The wear period at Duke is monthly. Any information you may have on this subject is welcome. Thanks for your assistance! Pat Patrick J. LaFrate, CHP Manager - Radiation Dosimetry & Records Duke Energy Dosimetry Laboratory 13339 Hagers Ferry Road Applied Science Center; Bldg 7405 MC: MG03A2 Huntersville, NC 28078 980-875-3204
