Photo By Douglas Stutz | Audit Aces All...Lt. Angela Wofford, Radiation Health Officer (far Left) and Lt....... read more read more
Zero. Zilch. Zip.
Such was the result of the annual review by Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) Radiation Health Program Audit team, which found no deficiencies of the Navy Radiation Health Program administered by Naval Hospital Bremerton (NHB) on their survey conducted July 23 through 26, 2018.
The audit team, which also assessed Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, reviewed approximately 200 medical records maintained at NHB’s Branch Health Clinics (BHC) PSNS and Bangor finding zero discrepancies. Branch health clinic staff also participated in a flawless base-wide contaminated injured persons drill on day two of the audit.
“In the out brief it was shared that there were zero discrepancies. This comes on the heels of a successful NAVSEA program inspection in the spring that also revealed no significant findings and cited several best practices. I could not be more proud of the team! We have the largest radiation health safety program in the Department of Defense. To have no deficiencies in a program of this size is truly an amazing feat and a tribute to the exceptional work by our team of radiation health technicians, occupational health specialists, providers and support staff,” said Capt. Jeffrey Bitterman, Naval Hospital Bremerton commanding officer. “The reliability of this program is second to none and has established a high level of trust with our shipyard workers that their health and safety is in good hands.
And to think NHB’s Radiation Safety Division anticipated that they had their work cut out for them to surpass the outstanding showing on last year’s Radiation Health Program Audit with an error rate of only 0.5 percent on the previous inspection.
“It’s unprecedented to have zero discrepancies in reviewing the medical record portion. That’s due to the robust review system we have in place. We have our radiation health technicians perform a weekly review the records, and there are also multiple levels of accountability in place to enforce all necessary standards,” explained Lt. Daniel Conley, NHB Radiation Safety Officer.
Along with reviewing the medical records, the audit also focused on associated documentation of occupational radiation exposure, including the 2016 and 2017 Annual and Situational Reports and demonstrated compliance of the Radiation Health Protection Manual.
According to Conley, NHB is responsible for radiation health program medical records and radiation medical exams – civilians and active duty alike – that add up to on average 100 to 150 done every week. There are well over 10,000 medical records overall, all with exam results for employees at PSNS and Naval Base Kitsap - Bangor.
“The branch health clinics initiate every exam and record, from taking the patient’s vital signs, to ordering lab work, and being seen by a provider. The key part in all that is being seen by the provider,” Conley said.
“Providers perform assessments on radiation workers in order to screen for certain cancers,” added Lt. Cmdr. Rob Uniszkiewicz, BHC PSNS officer in charge. “This is done to ensure that workers with cancer, particularly those which are radiosensitive, are restricted from work with ionizing radiation until they are deemed cancer free. This, in conjunction, with careful dosimetry monitoring, safeguards against workers being exposed to significant levels of radiation and reassures that they are safe to perform their duties while at work.”
Conley and Uniszkiewicz both attest that the flawless handling of such a large volume of paperwork is an all-hands cooperative endeavor.
“The annotating, managing, and maintaining thousands of health records is a team effort. Without the dedication and meticulous review of each radiation health record, such an endeavor would be near impossible. The clinic, along with Code 105.5 - Radiation Health - here at PSNS, have an unrivaled system in place that allows for extensive quality assurance checks at multiple levels. Individuals like Mr. Andy Shelton, Mr. Allen Truhn, and Mr. Jerry Coss work diligently on a daily basis to ensure that all records are up to BUMED and Naval Sea Systems Command standards. Most importantly, thorough quality checks of the records make certain that quality medical screening of the employees is taking place. This gives the worker peace of mind that their safety while at work is taken seriously by both PSNS and NHB leadership,” stated Uniszkiewicz.
For Hospital Corpsmen 1st Class Christian Lopez and Delfino Vega, and Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Cristo Salazar, radiation health technicians, the audit was more validation than investigation of what they did on a daily basis.
“Along with administering the dosimetry program, carrying out radiation monitoring and surveys, part of our overall job is to verify the medical records are updated and look for administrative discrepancies. It’s what we do,” said Lopez, not overly surprised by the audit’s official results.
“But on average there’s always some kind of discrepancy. Always. But zero? We thought last year was good when there was 0.5 percent discrepancies, which would be tough to beat. Now? We’ll just have to make sure we get back-to-back zero discrepancies,” added Vega, noting that Salazar processed a large amount of radiation health exams to support the overall goal.
“When all those records are being looked at under a virtual microscope and we come away with a perfect score, it shows that the team's hard work and dedication has paid off. When you study for the test as hard as these guys do, and they ace it, it's a pretty good feeling,” noted Uniszkiewicz.
Besides the medical needs of having a properly run radiation health program in place, there are also relevant real-world applications.
“The benefits are many and the implications are real. If our program is not viable, being shut down until it is can have national security implications. Anyone can look at these results from the audit team made up of the most senior Navy radiation health officer, a senior Navy undersea medical officer and a senior enlisted Sailor. It shows our program is safe. In all actuality, a person is more likely to get more radiation exposure walking outside in the summer sun than going underway on a Navy submarine deployment,” Conley said.
Uniszkiewicz notes that the prime intangible element of the entire program revolves around trust.
“The radiation program is all about trust. Trust in management that they have the workers' safety as the highest priority. And trust in medical that we have competent, highly motivated, and passionate individuals watching over them to make sure nobody falls through the cracks. Being able to certify, with confidence, that all radiation health records for the employees are accurate, sets the foundation for that trust. It allows us to say to the worker that we have their back
Fleet readiness equates to the Navy Medicine priority of mission readiness. Even if it’s one exam, one record, and one staff member at a time.
“I absolutely agree that precise record keeping, thorough examinations, and the on-going efforts like those of the team at PSNS BHC sends a definitive signal showing just how important radiation health safety is to the Navy and Navy Medicine specifically. The more we can do to reassure our workforce that they are safe and that anything nuclear is not necessarily inherently dangerous, the more we can focus efforts on supporting Fleet readiness,” said Uniszkiewicz.
| Date Taken: | 07.27.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 07.31.2018 17:45 |
| Story ID: | 286611 |
| Location: | BREMERTON , WA, US |
| Web Views: | 439 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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