“Our RSO just left, what do we do?”
When a Radiation Safety Officer leaves a veterinarian hospital, the hospital is required to notify the regulator of the replacement.  The RSO is the only person who must be specifically approved by the regulatory agency and listed on the radioactive materials license.  The regulations state that a 30-day notice is to be provided of the change in RSOs.  Sometimes this is not possible if the person abruptly leaves.   So, the hospital needs to identify the best person in house or find someone to continue the treatment of cats with Iodine-131.  Thankfully, there are online training courses provided by AEC for the RSO.  These are the 40-hour Advanced RSO training, the 8-hour RSO & Authorized User training and REFRESHER training.  Depending on the needs, one of these courses should assist the hospital in obtaining the necessary training.    Normally, the RSO needs some hands-on experience.  So, identifying the person with the most experience may be the best way to get the new RSO approved.

Regulatory authorities have differing views as to who could qualify to be the site RSO.  Some propose that only a Veterinarian can be so, while other agencies propose that an experienced Veterinarian Technician can fulfill that role.  Clarify with your regulator as to what minimum qualifications are needed to be the RSO.

To respond to the time limit to be compliant, you identify an appropriate person in your hospital, notify the regulator and inform them that your current RSO is no longer there and that you intend to put an existing person into the role as RSO.  However, to give the candidate the RSO training, simply explain to the regulator that the person will complete an RSO training course within the next couple of weeks and provide the certificate of training and a resume’ of the person’s experience upon completion.    This effort shows the regulator that you are responsive and desire to maintain compliance.  After submitting the documents to the regulator and obtain the amendment approving the new RSO, you are back in business.

You may need to postpone accepting new patients until the new RSO has been approved.  For those patients that you have in the hospital, continue to manage as you normally would through discharge.  Also, continue maintaining the tasks on the license to include the record keeping, surveys, contamination control and Decay-In-Storage (DIS).’’