West Tennessee Healthcare is a public, non-profit healthcare system that serves the broad expanse of western Tennessee. The system has 7 hospitals and over 90 locations in the region, where it provides a wide variety of care, including cancer centers, heart and vascular centers, rehabilitation, children’s care, women’s health, and more.

Nuclear Medicine

Playing a large role throughout West Tennessee is the Nuclear Medicine team, which supports various other teams such as Oncology, Cardiovascular, and Neurology. The Nuclear Medicine department performs an average of 200 PET scans per month using their onsite and mobile scanners. Increasing their workload on a quarterly basis are Radiation Safety Committee (RSC) meetings, along with annual inspections that occur every February or March.

Shondra Murley, the Nuclear Medicine Manager and Assistant RSO, has a packed schedule, and when the RSO left the organization in early 2021, the decision was made to utilize Landauer Medical Physics® instead of finding a new RSO.

“Bringing in Landauer made perfect sense for us,” says Shondra. “It’s been a safety net for us to have their expertise just a phone call or email away, and it’s saved us quite a bit of money.”

Landauer supports West Tennessee Healthcare through Radiation Safety Support Services (RSS) and Imaging Physics Consulting. Landauer RSS is a flexible, remote service that can take on extra work for an in-house RSO, or it can be used to handle all duties in the absence of an RSO. In the case of West Tennessee, Landauer RSS is used in place of a full time RSO, with Shondra acting as their “boots on the ground.”

Radiation Safety Support Services

Some of the larger duties Landauer handles for West Tennessee include reviewing data and preparing presentations for their quarterly RSC meetings, creating necessary reports, and managing the dosimetry program. 

One dosimetry challenge Shondra was facing that was affecting compliance was the nonreturn of badges. Christine Krieman, a Practice Associate on the Landauer RSS team, worked with Shondra to discover the cause and create a solution. She reviewed the data and determined that the largest nonreturn rate was occurring with employees who were double badged. She converted them to a single collar badge and computed the necessary dose corrections. As a result, they have been able to significantly reduce their nonreturn rates.

Another assist came from Kenneth Repking, another Practice Associate on the Landauer RSS team. West Tennessee recently added a mobile PET trailer to their capabilities. Anytime new radiation equipment is brought in, the license needs to be updated. Ken wrote an amendment to the license for the new equipment so Shondra could submit it to the state.

Imaging Physics Consulting

Landauer Imaging Physics Consulting provides on-site RSO services through a nationwide team of credentialed medical physicists. Some of the duties they can assist with include equipment testing, performance surveys, acceptance testing, and accreditation support for inspections and renewals. 

David Knight, the Director of Landauer Imaging Physics, is the medical physicist who is on site monthly for West Tennessee. He visits the various locations, including their hospitals and hot labs, to ensure everything is running smoothly and they are inspection ready. He works closely with Shondra to handle all necessary activities, from conducting tube inspections to arranging for engineers to work on equipment that needs servicing.

A Five Star Experience

Shondra has nothing but praise for the Landauer team. “They are phenomenal! Everyone has been communicative and helpful.”

When asked what she would tell her peers who are looking for RSO assistance, she was quick to respond, “Definitely contract with Landauer for whatever you need. Adding the extra help got all of our needs met. It’s perfect for us!”