RPS C-5 — Code for Radiation Protection in Medical Exposure (2019)

1. Source documents

National code issued by ARPANSA for medical exposure.
In Queensland it is a standard condition of possession and use licences for practices involving diagnostic or therapeutic irradiation of a person (Act s 75(3); Regulation s 70(1), item 2).
Gives effect nationally to medical-exposure requirements derived substantially from IAEA GSR Part 3.

Patient medical exposures require justification and optimisation; dose limits do not apply to the intended exposure of a patient.
Compliance is enforceable for the relevant Queensland licensed practice through the prescribed licence-condition mechanism; the code is not merely optional guidance in that setting.
Radiation therapy requires an authorised and documented treatment prescription, accurate calibration and dosimetry, suitable equipment, competent roles and a comprehensive QA programme.
Protection responsibilities extend across the Responsible Person, radiological medical practitioner, medical radiation practitioner/technologist and medical physicist.
Special provisions address pregnancy or breast-feeding where relevant, carers and comforters, biomedical research, and unintended or accidental medical exposure.
A documented Radiation Management Plan and retained clinical, dosimetric, QA, calibration, training and incident records turn the code into an auditable system.

Defines the purpose, scope and application of the code across diagnostic, interventional, nuclear-medicine and radiation-therapy exposures.

Requires justification at the appropriate level and optimisation of protection and safety.
Distinguishes patient medical exposure from occupational and public exposure: intended patient dose is not constrained by occupational/public dose limits.

Allocates responsibilities, requires appropriate authorisation, competence and referral/prescription arrangements, and controls who may perform or influence exposures.

Requires suitable equipment, acceptance and commissioning, calibration, dosimetry, optimisation, quality assurance and patient/exposure records.

Addresses pregnancy and breast-feeding, paediatric or other special considerations, carers and comforters, and research participants as applicable.

Requires prevention, prompt response, dose assessment, investigation, notification where applicable, corrective action and learning.

Requires a documented management framework, education and competence, review, and records sufficient to demonstrate safe medical use.
Clauses 3.5.5–3.5.6 and Schedule A specify the Radiation Management Plan and its implementation. The plan is a code requirement; Queensland approval of an RSPP is a distinct legal step.

Schedule A: Expected content of a Radiation Management Plan.
(no term): Appendices explain derivation and relationships with other Australian codes; glossary and references support consistent terminology.

Medical exposure: Exposure of patients as part of diagnosis or treatment, and specified exposures of carers/comforters and volunteers in biomedical research.
Radiological medical practitioner: Clinician with primary medical responsibility for justification and clinical conduct of the exposure.
Medical physicist: Provides specialist dosimetry, calibration, commissioning, QA and radiation-protection expertise within scope of competence.
Treatment prescription: The documented clinical authorisation defining the intended therapeutic exposure; it is a central control, not a dose limit.
Records: Prescription, patient identity, exposure/delivery data, calibration, commissioning, QA, competence, research approval and unintended-exposure investigation records.

Principal national medical-exposure basis for the RSPP's prescription, patient identification, treatment-planning, independent-check, commissioning, QA and incident-learning controls.
Supports the local Radiation Management Plan/RSPP structure but does not replace Queensland approval or statutory content requirements.
RSPP or departmental tolerances must be justified locally and should not be attributed to this code unless the code actually specifies them.