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Duke Occupational & Environmental Safety Office
Duke Occupational & Environmental Safety Office
Occupational & Environmental Safety Office
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Patient Care Responsibilities

Supporting the Nuclear Medicine and Radiotheranostics Division 

Radiation Safety supports the clinical use of radioactive drugs for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes by: 

  • Providing patients with post-treatment instructions in order to maintain radiation exposure to family members and others as low as is reasonable achievable, and providing pre-treatment consultation with patients and their family members. 
  • Assisting faculty and staff in complying with state and federal radiation regulations, including performing periodic safety audits, reviewing occupational radiation dosimetry records and thyroid bioassay results.  

Supporting In-Patient Radiopharmaceutical Treatments 

We assist the nursing staff on Duke Hospital divisions by:  

  • Preparing the treatment suites to reduce radioactive contamination.  
  • Assisting with monitoring radioactive drug infusions. 
  • Managing radioactive waste and performing post-discharge room decontamination. 
  • Providing “just-in-time” in-service training when needed. 

Supporting the Department of Radiation Oncology 

We support the Department of Radiation Oncology by: 

  • Assisting with linear accelerator and brachytherapy radiation protection through periodic audits. 
  • Providing pre-installation consultation and post-installation radiation surveys for clinical accelerators. 
  • Providing radiation monitoring during brachytherapy procedures and providing post-discharge instructions to patients. 

Providing Nursing Education 

We provide radiation safety education to nurses who might care for patients during diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Training venues include the “New to the OR” curriculum, “live” in-person and remote “on-demand” in-service trainings, and on-line educational modules. 

Providing Radiation Risk Consultation 

We consult with patients and staff on medical radiation risk for radioactive drugs, x-rays, CT scans and MRI exams. In collaboration with the Duke Clinical Imaging Physics Group, we assist with assessing risk to the fetus when a radiation exam is required for the mother.