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An
excellent, published source for radiation safety
issues is the Guide for Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine
and Radiopharmaceutical Therapy by Jeffry A.
Siegel, PhD, published by the Society of Nuclear
Medicine.
Laboratory
staff members are encouraged to utilize the above
referenced sources in conjunction with input from
their equipment application specialists to develop
protocols specific to their camera and software
that are in compliance with The ICANL Standards.
For
ICANL accreditation purposes, the technical protocols
should include a minimum of the documentation required
by The ICANL Standards. However, if a laboratory
chooses to include documentation beyond the requirements
of the Standards, these should be addressed
in the protocol and reflected in the laboratory
examinations (and thus the submitted case studies
for review).
Because
of regularly changing technology and practice standards,
the protocols should be assessed and updated on
a regular basis. As an example, The ICANL Standards
are reviewed by the Board of Directors and ICANL
staff at regular intervals. A good practice for
laboratories is to look at their protocols each
time the new ICANL Standards are published,
making any necessary adjustments and assuring that
the actual practices within the laboratory are consistent
with the corresponding written protocols and remain
in compliance with The ICANL Standards.
A
clear, concise protocol is generally of most value
to the technologists in a laboratory. Though they
should be thorough, wordy protocols lead to the
loss of important information within paragraphs
of text and can be frustrating to the staff they
are intended to assist. Several sample protocols
are published on the ICANL website [www.icanl.org/icanl/pdfs/sampleprotocol.pdf].
There are various formats used in developing protocols
and this is provided only as an example and not
a format required by the ICANL.
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