Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry 
Radiation Exposure from Iodine 131
Goals and Objectives

Goals

The goals of the ATSDR series of Case Studies in Environmental Medicine (CSEM) are:

• to increase the health professional's knowledge of hazardous substances in the environment and
• to aid in the evaluation of potentially exposed patients.

Objectives

After completion of this educational activity, the reader should be able to:

• describe the major sources of I-131 in the environment,
• identify the major routes of human exposure,
• describe the population group most at risk for health effects from past exposure to I-131 and why,
• describe the four factors contributing to the internal dose of I-131 contamination,
• assess a patient's environmental or occupational exposure to I-131,
• describe the diagnostic evaluation of a thyroid nodule in an individual exposed to I-131,
• list two important actions to take if an environmental release of I-131 occurs,
• discuss indications for prophylactic use of potassium iodine (KI) after an I-131 exposure, and
• list three sources of information one could access if an I-131 release occurs.

Accreditation

Continuing Medical Education (CME)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. CDC designates this educational activity for a maximum of 2.25 hours in category 1 credit toward the American Medical Association (AMA) Physician's Recognition Award. Each physician should claim only those hours of credit that he/she actually spent in the educational activity.

Continuing Nursing Education (CNE)

This activity for 2.5 contact hours is provided by CDC, which is accredited as a provider of continuing education in nursing by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.

Continuing Education Units (CEU)

CDC has been approved as an Authorized Provider of continuing education and training programs by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training and awards 0.2 Continuing Education Units (CEUs).

Continuing Health Education Specialist (CHES)

CDC is a designated provider of continuing education contact hours (CECH) in health education by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. This program is a designated event for the CHES to receive 2.0 category 1 contact hours in health education.

CE Expiration: Expiration: November 24, 2008

This CSEM is under revision; continuing education credit (CE) is not available at this time.

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