Record management can challenge the most patient professionals, especially when dosimetric records spanning decades are involved.
The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) found itself confronted with an archaic personnel dosimetry database several years ago. Over time, SLAC had migrated from one database platform to the next to take advantage of the best features of the day. Each one had its own particularities for dose record format and report generation. As a result, there was no uniformity across the files, their content, structure, interconnectivity, or irretrievability. Some of the records were on paper and some in electronic databases. None were compatible. The ability of SLAC to manage its dose reporting duties in an efficient and expedient manner became more and more limited. Even the simplest of dose reports could only be generated through great effort. And SLAC has over 2,000 dosimeter wearers each year to support.
In 2001, SLAC decided to start over. A project was launched to manage dose reporting as well as manage dosimeter issuances in one system. One goal was to build the system to handle data in an entirely electronic manner. By elimination of any manual handling of data, speed would be enhanced and potential data handling errors minimized. Next, a powerful computer platform was needed. It needed to be flexible, fast, easily updatable, and reasonably immune to obsolescence. The platform also had to have sufficient processing and storage capacity to accommodate the massive quantities of dose data accumulated over the operational history of SLAC.
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center selected its existing and well-serviced facility network ORACLE database management system as the platform. An algorithm was written to allow dosimeter assignments, dose result receipt, and generation of individual and departmental dose reports with no more than a few clicks of a mouse. The algorithm was designed to accommodate with no fuss either in-house dosimeter processing or use of any external dosimetry vendor. 170,000 historical dose records were standardized to the format of the new system. The system was also written to interface in real time with the SLAC Institutional Database. This connection allowed the employment and department-assignment status of each individual wearing a dosimeter to be used to help determine the type of dosimeter to be assigned to that individual.
Now known as the Occupational Dose Tracking System (ODTS), the system passed all of its preoperational tests. It was reviewed by and received concurrence from the U.S. Department of Energy Laboratory Accreditation Program (DOELAP) as part of SLAC's current accredited external dosimetry program.
The ODTS has been a big success at SLAC. It is fast, versatile, quickly able to generate even the most data-intensive dose reports, and easy to use. It can generate individual dose histories as far back as January 1, 1972, as required by 10 CFR 835, in seconds. Future enhancements under consideration are to add an internal dose capability, to connect it to the SLAC Employee Training Assessment System to help flag dosimeter wearers who need refresher radiological safety training, and to empower SLAC employees to access their own individual dose results from their own computers at any time, thereby saving paper and administrative costs.
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center will be happy to share information about ODTS with other members of the DOE community. Please contact Steve Frey, SLAC Radiological Control Manager, at (650) 926-3839 or by e-mail.