Precautions in the Management of Patients who Have Received Therapeutic Amounts of Radionuclides

Book excerpt: "This report...is designed to serve as a guide for persons (including physicians, nurses, and funeral directors) concerned with the patient who has received a THERAPEUTIC dose of a radionuclide...With the increasing use of radionuclides in therapy, a more comprehensive consideration of the problem, including that of the ambulatory radioactive patient, is desirable. Four situations are of interest: (1) the patient receiving regular nursing care in the hospital; (2) the patient receiving emergency surgery; (3) the patient released from the hospital while still containing an appreciable quantity of the radionuclide; (4) the patient who dies while appreciably radioactive. The present report includes information and recommendations on all of these points for a larger number of radionuclides than were considered in the earlier NCRP report. This report is directed primarily to problems encountered in the general hospital where the therapeutic use of radioactive material is occasional rather than carried out on an intensive scale. For the few large radiation centers more detailed and specialized provisions may be necessary, and can be developed from the principles given here. This report is intended to serve as a guide to good practice. It provides basic standards which may be used in the preparation of regulatory protection codes, but is not specifically written for literal adoption as legal regulations." -- From Preface, page iii.