Establishment Of The National Individual Monitoring Registry In China

The use of ionizing radiation and radioisotope is widespread since the 20th century. However, the risks associated with radiation exposure has been recognized since early studies on high level of radiation and long term epidemiological studies of populations exposed to radiation.As the essential part of the occupational protection due to external radiation sources, In recent years there has been a tremendous increase in the development and publication of standards, documents of relevance and other guidance for individual monitoring (IM) issuing by extensive list of international units, such as the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) etc. Dose records keeping is necessary part of the IM process and should be uniquely linked to the individual worker for the purpose of confirmation of good working practice and estimation of the actual exposure of workers. Dose records may be used for a number of others purposes, such as provision of information about exposure trends, development of operating procedures and providing basis data to epidemiological studies of the exposed population.For these purpose, many countries have established their own national dose registry system respectively which is based on the PC and Web technicology and provides extreme valuable information on occupational exposure protection for the authority.China started the IM on radiation exposured workers since 1950s and addressed the national regulations of IM on 1985. By the early 90s, China has developed the statistics collecting regulations on radiation protection information including IM's. However, China's national dose registry system should be modified and rearranged and a national dose data base needs to be set up according to the assessment report by the experts in IAEA on 2004.The study aims at the construction of a national IM for occupational external exposure registry system laying down the relevant national legislations, regulations, standards and the national statistics system. The requirements of IAEA and the modern electronic technique should be taken into account carefully during the process. Also the situation of local individual monitoring services should be concerned. The main tasks of the registry system are centralized and safe keeping of individual dose records, improvement of the surveillance and the control of exposed workers, statistical analysis of dose development and dose distribution and support of epidemiological studies.Before the establishment of the system, the NIRP has set up surveys on occupational radiation exposure within 8 provinces and investigations of situation on several large IM services. Furthermore, the NIRP participated in the Health Hazards Surveillance System in China CDC and operated the Radiation Health System. From 2005, NIRP sent staff successively to several countries to accept training and operate science visiting. Subsequently, NIRP associated with Jiangsu CDC to establish the local registry system successfully on the basis of their former experience.The first part of the study, the reliable information on the international IM including current registration systems in each country is collected and the data of some domestic IM management systems is given.During the needs analyzes and modeling stage,4 process in IM was classified and 5 specific type users were validated. Moreover, the need for each user was qualified. For the purpose of confirming the general task and strategy of the system, IMM (informatization maturity model) was introduced to assess the IM information level in China to ensure the process going smoothly and efficiently.A set of basic strategy were used to develop the system architecture such as practicability, complying with the international requirements, on the basis of Web, the integrality and reliability of data. A mixed system architecture which comprised an offline local edition, online B/S edition and a customized data package was determined. The two edition provide different function to the users in order to balance the advantages and disadvantages between offline and online.The content of the data base was classified 8 classification information and 11 specific components. With the defining of 8 data forms and 16 dictionaries, the ERD and the data process module were constructed. Both of The views on offline local edition and online edition were designed respectively and the annual data quantities were assessed. The Dose quantities used in the system were Hp(10),Hp(0.07),Hp(3). The Occupation Category was arranged more specific for the purpose of practicability and clarity to meet the current condition of IM services in China. The system index and its relevant mathematics model were constructed. The system record level was determined and investigation level was inducted corresponding to the relevant monitoring interval. According to the 3 different data input mode on the offline local edition, the monitoring interval and calendar year were adopted to construct the mathematics model of annual dose.The system adopted the annual average effective dose E, collective dose S, the collective dose distribution ratio SR and the number of workers distribution ratio NR as the main statistics index, designed the dose distribution range. A standardization format of monitoring results reports were designed to comply with the requirements of the IM services needs. An investigation form due to unexpected dose or high dose was also designed for the IM services and other documents, such as, statistics forms and dose trends diagrams were designed for the IM services to promote practical convenience for their routine work..The security of the system should be taken into account since it is a national data base. The accreditation of users was designated for each type user to limit their access rights to access the database. The certification accreditation of system constructed, the backup and resume were the essential part as the classic database security approach.As the need analyzes and modeling process finished, in February 2008, a contract was signed with a software company to develop the system according to the need analyzes and the modeling designation. As soon as the beta edition was finished on April 2008, a testing program was organized immediately among the IM services from 6 provinces and regions in China by NIRP. It was proved that the system was of high quality and flexible appearance after the testing program ending. On April 2009, the Food Safety Administration and Health Inspection Bureau of MOH set up a verification committee to validate the system and suggested to spread the system to the whole country.Innovation:The system is the first centralized dose data base in China. The frame work of the system was in accordance with the national regulations and standards, national health statistics system and the requirements of the international units. By adopting appropriate dose quantities and record format, the system harmonized dose results reports, the investigation forms and the information collection. Considering its performance and the wide spread vision in the future, the system will continue to improve and strengthen the radiation protection management in China.