With thousands of available training courses for NIH staff, it's likely you've already reached overload capacity on your tolerance for more training. However, please make room for all "mandatory" Division of Radiation Safety (DRS) annual refresher training that is critical for regulatory compliance. You may be a worker in a mandatory annual refresher training category with the DRS and that is one training course you don't want to miss!
Note that several groups are targeted for annual radiation safety refresher training due to NIH license commitments with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Are you in one of these groups? If so, have you had your 2020 annual refresher training yet? DRS is here to help. Here are groups who require annual radiation safety training:
- Radiation Oncology physicians involved in Ir-192 brachytherapy treatments
- Clinical Center nurses involved in I-131 therapy patient care (typically 5NW)
- Clinical Center nurses involved in Lu-177 therapy patient care (typically ICU and 5NW)
- Nuclear Medicine physicians and technicians
- PET Department physicians and technicians
- Hot Cell users of PET radionuclides (F-18, C-11, Zr-89, etc.)
- Benchtop researchers involved in alpha-emitting radionuclides (Ra-223, Ra-224, Th-227, Bi-212, Ac-225, etc.)
- Any radiation worker who received >100 mrem whole body radiation dose in 2020
If you are uncertain whether you fit into one of these categories, please contact the DRS Training Department at 301-496-2255 or drstraining@mail.nih.gov. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, your required refresher training can be arranged virtually, through an online link (e.g. WebEx, MS Teams, Skype, etc.), or in person (wearing masks and social distancing) as needs dictate. However, it is important that training is not missed for these worker groups! DRS strives to maintain full compliance with conditions of our NRC license. But, we need your help to step up and receive the refresher training, once scheduled by your area Health Physicist, if you are impacted by this requirement.
Questions? Contact the DRS Training Department or your area Health Physicist at https://drs.ors.od.nih.gov/services/Pages/Area-Health-Physicist.aspx or 301-496-5774.