September 10, 2004

RSERT: Responding to radiation emergencies

Since Sept. 11, many MGHers have become more aware of the hospital's efforts to enhance various disaster response programs. One of the most well known components of the response efforts is the Hazmat Decontamination Team. What many MGHers might not know is that the hospital also has a specialized team responsible for handling radiation-specific emergencies — the Radiation Safety Emergency Response Team (RSERT).

RSERT — which was created more than two years ago by order of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Commonwealth Radiation Control Program — is designed to operate with minimal staffing with most of the team working primarily within the Emergency Department. "We designed a plan that would allow for a quick response to a variety of radiation scenarios," says Tara Medich, assistant director of the MGH Radiation Safety Office and one of the founding members of RSERT. "This plan also needs to provide a high level of care to our patients while protecting the hospital and its staff from the hazards of radiation."

According to the MGH Radiation Safety Office, radiation differs in many ways from chemical and biologic hazards. Radiation exposure and/or contamination is considered to be a medical problem, which means that it is assigned a treatment priority when patients are triaged during an incident. Often radiation decontamination is not the first priority in a radiation incident. For chemically exposed patients, the priority is chemical decontamination. Chemically contaminated patients are decontaminated outside the hospital in specially designed tents. For patients contaminated with radioactive matierials, only the initial triage is conducted outside the hospital. Patients are then moved into the hospital to receive emergency treatment and/or undergo decontamination. The radiation decontamination itself is a deliberate and methodical process. The specific technique used depends on the medical condition of each patient.

RSERT is comprised of 40 members, one third from the Radiation Safety Office and the rest from research laboratories throughout the hospital. "All staff are trained in each of seven team positions including leadership roles. In most cases, the first to arrive on the scene become team leaders and remain in this role for the duration of the operation," says Jayne Kassel, lab manager in the Molecular Neurogenetics Unit and a member of RSERT.

"While RSERT does differ from the Hazmat team, both teams share a common goal," says Rex Woodleigh, director of the MGH Radiation Safety Office. "Both are devoted to extending the hospital's mission of providing quality care, even in disaster situations."