Analysis of medical workers dose records from the Canadian National Dose Registry

The National Dose Registry (NDR) is a centralised occupational radiation dose record keeping system operated by the Bureau of Radiation and Medical Devices of the Department of National Health and Welfare. It contains the occupational radiation dose records of all monitored workers in Canada from 1951 to the present. In 1987, the NDR Data Base was restructured to improve data extraction and analysis capabilities. The NDR's capabilities are illustrated using examples from 15 medically related occupations. There were 35,104 medical workers monitored in 1988 with a lifetime collective dose of 125.8 Sv. The average annual dose in 1988 was 0.15 mSv with the highest average of 1.78 mSv being received by nuclear medicine technicians. Log-normal or hybrid log-normal parameters are presented for the 1988 data. Average lifetime dose is 3.56 mSv with the highest average being received by therapeutic radiologists (19.44 mSv). (Author)