AMERICAN BOARD OF MEDICAL PHYSICS, INC.
STUDY GUIDE 2006-2007
"Part II - Medical Health Physics"
TOPICS FOR EXAMINATION
We seek to determine the candidate's practical
experience as well as his/her understanding of current radiation protection
standards. In Parts II we test the candidate's level
of knowledge on 9 topics:
Content Categories
|
I. |
Instrumentation |
10% |
|
II. |
Laboratory Design |
5% |
|
III. |
Standards and Regulations |
15% |
|
IV. |
Radiation Oncology - Including brachytherapy |
15% |
|
V. |
Structural Shielding Design |
15% |
|
VI. |
Imaging-Quality Assurance - Including Nuclear Medicine |
20% |
|
VII. |
Radiobiology |
5% |
|
VIII. |
Radiopharmaceutical Therapy |
10% |
|
IX. |
Non-Ionizing Radiation |
5% |
Subjects Covered
Instrumentation
Characteristics and limitations of
Portable ionization chambers
Geiger-Muller counters
Scintillation counters
Liquid Scintillation counting systems
Multi-channel analyzers
Gamma counting systems
Uses of instrumentation in the field and
in emergency situations
Laboratory Design
Ventilation systems
Hood design
Contamination control
Standards and
Regulations
Risk Estimates
Radiobiological basis for permissible doses
Permissible Doses
Familiarity with Regulatory Codes
Familiarity with NRC/NCRP Guidelines
Radiation
Oncology/Brachytherapy Quality Assurance
Elements of Quality Management Program
JCAHO Requirements
Inventory Control-Brachytherapy
Exposure Control
Medical Events.
Incident Investigation
Quality Control Testing
Structural Shielding
Design
Diagnostic Installations
Accelerator Shielding and Upgrades
Neutron Protection
Sealed Source Protection
Imaging-Quality
Assurance
FDA Regulations
Elements of Quality Management Program
JCAHO Requirements
Quality Control Testing
Radiobiology
BEIR Reports
NCRP Recommendations
Radiopharmaceutical
Therapy
I-131 Therapy
·
Typical Doses
·
Exposure Control
·
Contamination Control
·
Release Criteria
Radioimmunotherapy
Non-Ionizing Radiation
Laser Safety Standards
MRI Design and Hazard
Reference Study Material
The following text
provides a listing of books or reports that are intended to assist persons
preparing for the examination. This list
is not all-inclusive.
A basic understanding
of medical physics practices is necessary in addition to standard health physics
practices and principles. An understanding
of diagnostic radiology to the level of
For radiation therapy, a level
midway between say Applied Physics for Radiation Oncology, (R. Stanton
and I. Stinson, Med. Physics. Pub.,
Other texts of interest
are :
Hospital Health
Physics, Proceedings of the
1993 HPS Summer School, Eds., G.G. Eichholz &
J.J. Shanka.
Radiation
Instruments, Ed., H.Cember, Health Physics Summer School, 2001.
Shielding
Techniques, P. McGinley, Second
Edition, Med. Physics Pub., 2002.
US Nuclear Regulatory
Commission
Title 10, Parts 20 and
35
Regulatory Guides,
including 8.39
Licensing Guide for
Medical Licenses of Broad Scope
Licensing Guide for
Specific Scope Licenses
American Association of
Physicists in Medicine
Report of Task Group 40
Report of Task Group 53
National Council on Radiation
Protection and Measurements:
Report No. 37, “Precautions
in the Management of Patients Who Have Received Therapeutic Amounts of Radionuclides”
Report No. 49, “Structural
Shielding Design and Evaluation for Medical Use of X Rays and Gamma Rays Up
to 10 MeV”
Report No. 54, “Medical
Radiation Exposure of Pregnant and Potentially Pregnant Women”
Report No. 65, “Management
of Persons Accidentally Contaminated with Radionuclides”
Report No. 79, “Neutron
Contamination from Medical Electron Accelerators”
Report No. 102, “Medical
X-Ray, Electron Beam and Gamma-Ray Protection for Energies Up to 50 MeV”
Report No. 115, “Risk
Estimates for Radiation Protection”
Report No. 116, “Limitation
of Exposure to Ionizing Radiation”
Report No. 119, " A Practical Guide to the Determination of Human Exposure to Radiofrequency Fields" (1993).
Report No. 122, "Use of Personal Monitors to Estimate Effective Dose Equivalent and Effective Dose to Workers For External Exposure to Low-LET Radiation" (1995)
Report No. 127,
“Operational Radiation Safety Program”
Report No. 124, "Sources and Magnitude of Occupational and Public Exposures from Nuclear Medicine Procedures" (1996)
Report No. 125, "Deposition, Retention and Dosimetry of Inhaled Radioactive Substances" (1997)
Report No. 126, "Uncertainties in Fatal Cancer Risk Estimates Used in Radiation Protection" (1997)
Report No. 128, "Radionuclide Exposure of the Embryo/Fetus" (1998)
Report No. 133, "Radiation Protection for Procedures Performed Outside the Radiology Department" (2000)
Report No. 134, "Operational Radiation Safety Training" (2000)
Report No. 136, "Evaluation of the Linear-Nonthreshold Dose-Response Model for Ionizing Radiation" (2001)
Report No. 140, "Exposure Criteria for Medical Diagnostic Ultrasound" (2002)
Report No. 144, "Radiation Protection for Particle Accelerator Facilities" (2003)
Report No. 145, "Radiation Protection in Dentistry" (2003)
Report No. 147, "Structural Shielding Design for Medical X-Ray Imaging Facilities" (2004)
Report No. 149, "A Guide to Mammography and Other Breast Imaging Procedures" (2004)
Report No.151, " Structural Shielding Design and Evaluation for Megavoltage X- and Gamma-Ray Radiotherapy Facilities" (2005).
OTHER REFERENCES
Blater S. "Interventional Fluoroscopy: Physics, Technology & Safety", Wiley-Liss, 2001.
Bushong, S.C. "Radiologic Science For Technologists," 3rd Ed., Mosby, ST. Louis, 1984.
Cember H. "Introduction to Health Physics", 3rd Edition. McGraw-Hill, 1996.
Dendy PP & Heaton B. "Physics for Diagnostic Radiology", 2nd Edition. Insitute of Physics, 1999.
Johns, H.E. and Cunningham, J.R. "The Physics of Radiology," 4th Ed., Thomas, Springfield, 1983.
Khan, F.M. "The Physics of Radiation Therapy," 3rd Edition. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2003.
Tsoulfanaids N. "Measurement and Detection of Radiation", 2nd Edition, Taylor & Francis, 1995.
Turner, J.E. "Atoms, Radiation and Radiation Protection", 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons, 1995.