Read on to understand how to configure a fetal dosimeter for a declared pregnant worker.
Pregnant radiation workers who have declared their pregnancy in writing to the RSO must be assigned a fetal monitor and may not exceed 500 mrem for the entire gestational period. The dosimeter should be worn directly over the fetal area in order to receive the most accurate reading on your dose report.
Fetal monitors must be reviewed on a monthly basis.
Declared Pregnancy
NetDose provides a field in the user profile to store a workers declared pregnancy date. This is for record keeping only and has no effect on the data. For more information about setting up user profiles, please click here.
Using departments to set multiple ALARA thresholds
The mother and the fetus will have two different dose limits, and each should have their own ALARA dose threshold alert levels. This will be achieved with the use of a department. If necessary, please review the items below. You will need to understand these topics before continuing.
Configuration
Caution: Some states may have different regulations and regulations change periodically. It is the RSO's responsibility to understand the regulations for their operations. For this reason, the values listed below are a starting point, but customized thresholds may be required. Please contact your regulatory authority for assistance if necessary.
At any time, if you are unsure of how to proceed or need more detail, click on one of the four links above and it will provide detailed instructions for how to perform each action.
Step 1: Create a Department
1. Create a department with a name of your choosing.
2. Set the fetal ALARA thresholds for the department as follows:
|
Deep (mrem) |
Eye (mrem) |
Shallow (mrem) |
|
|
ALARA I Quarterly |
17 |
17 |
17 |
|
ALARA II Quarterly |
50 |
50 |
50 |
|
ALARA I Annual |
50 |
50 |
50 |
|
ALARA II Annual |
150 |
150 |
150 |
3. Set the read frequencies to match the configuration of your other radiation workers or use the default settings.
Step 2: Create Two Users
1. Create two users with the same settings except the username (usernames must be unique), one for the pregnant worker and one for the fetus.
2. Set the pregnant worker's role to supervisor and assign them to the department that was created in Step 1 above. Under the service configuration tab, ensure that the 'same as department' box is NOT checked. This will allow the user to operate under the global ALARA thresholds setup in the account profile.
3. Change the wearer name of the user setup for the fetus so that it is easily associated with the pregnant worker and can be easily identified as the fetus.
4. Assign the fetal user to the department created in Step 1. Under the service configuration tab, ensure that the 'same as department' box IS checked. This will allow the fetal user to operate under the department's fetal ALARA thresholds.
Step 3: Assign Dosimeters
1. Assign a dosimeter with wear location 'torso' to the pregnant worker.
2. Assign a dosimeter with wear location 'fetal' to the fetal user.
3. Provide both dosimeters to the pregnant worker.
4. The fetal dosimeter should be worn at the front at the fetal area.
5. The torso dosimeter should be worn on the front of the torso.
The worker wears two dosimeters, one for themselves and one for the fetus, each with their own dose thresholds. The fetal threshold, set by the department, is lower than the pregnant worker's global thresholds, set in the account profile.
They exist together in a department. With the pregnant worker in the supervisor role, they can log into NetDose and monitor their own doses and the doses received by the fetus.