The MPBE department (Medical Physics and Bioengineering) provides technical services to the hospital by taking care of medical equipment, the calibration of imaging equipment as well as services to ensuring the safe operation of equipment. The medical physicists also provide services in nuclear medicine. Radioiodine therapy is a service the hospital provides, one of my major goals setting out to work at St. James’s was to learn about radiotherapy, I had a role looking though research papers to try and find information which could help with the way the radioiodine therapy the hospital provides is given, that role was elegantly supported with other relevant work, such as contamination monitoring and experimental work which built an amazing knowledgebase for me. I took part in the NIMIS project and delivered a presentation on a new piece of dose tracking software to the MPBE department. I carried out many other short term roles which served to develop me in many areas within and including science, IT and engineering as well as developing my people skills. I learned how to interact on a technical level with an interdisciplinary team. As well as gain an understanding of team dynamics, organizational and project management. The experience was very enriching all-around and I would gladly recommend it to future students as an INTRA placement.

1. Muhammad Bilal Alli
Student Number: 10322935
Degree Program: Physics with Biomedical Sciences
Faculty of Science and Health
School of Physical Sciences
2013
St. James’s Hospital

2. Abstract
The MPBE department (Medical Physics and Bioengineering) provides technical services to the hospital
by taking care of medical equipment, the calibration of imaging equipment as well as services to
ensuring the safe operation of equipment. The medical physicists also provide services in nuclear
medicine. Radioiodine therapy is a service the hospital provides, one of my major goals setting out to
work at St. James’s was to learn about radiotherapy, I had a role looking though research papers to try
and find information which could help with the way the radioiodine therapy the hospital provides is
given, that role was elegantly supported with other relevant work, such as contamination monitoring
and experimental work which built an amazing knowledgebase for me. I took part in the NIMIS project
and delivered a presentation on a new piece of dose tracking software to the MPBE department.
I carried out many other short term roles which served to develop me in many areas within and
including science, IT and engineering as well as developing my people skills. I learned how to interact on
a technical level with an interdisciplinary team. As well as gain an understanding of team dynamics
,organizational and project management. The experience was very enriching all-around and I would
gladly recommend it to future students as an INTRA placement.
Introduction
The purpose of the job was to provide support to the MPBE department, while learning the roles of its
members. Major objectives were participating on the NIMIS project and learning about radiotherapy.
The Company Structure
The medical physics and bioengineering department is a service not a company, it is comprised of CAMI,
BTI, endoscopy, clinical engineering, sterilization and external services. The groups above provide their
services as outlined in general below within St. James’s hospital, the exception being external services.
CAMI is a research facility, whose imaging equipment (MRI) is also used for the hospital’s medical
imaging service to patients.
Clinical engineering involves the maintenance and quality assurance of medical equipment also the
management of service contracts with companies’ i.e contacting the companies should the need for a
repair arise.
The members of the BTI group take care of instrument problems in the area of medical imaging,
on site repair and the management of service contracts.
Endoscopy is the use of a flexible camera to look into orifices of the human body to look for
abnormalities or take tissue samples. The MPBE endoscopy team manages the maintenance of the
scopes and its related equipment via service contracts.
External services provides medical physics and clinical engineering services to hospitals other than St.
James’ in the form of QA (quality assurance) test , making sure x-ray equipment and rooms are safe for
use.

3. A quality assurance test can be defined as a process a device, machine, facility or service is put though
with the objective of gauging if it is operating within acceptable parameters or on a pass/fail basis.
Duties Performed
I took part in the NIMIS(National Integrated Medical Imaging System) project, familiarizing myself with
the use of one of its newer software tools, and then presenting the use of that tool to the MPBE
department at St.James’s. [1]
I carried out some healthcare informatics work using Matlab to gauge if resources of the hospital should
be managed differently. [2]
The result of the project showed no meaningful repeating behavior in
the number of hospital beds occupied that could be used to manage resources differently to improve
the service or save money.
Another duty was going through research papers looking for specific information regarding radiotherapy
to then pass onto my supervisor, the PET/CT principal physicist.[3]
Radiotherapy, more specifically
radioiodine therapy is the use of radiation to kill cancerous cells as a means to destroy a tumor, other
applications of radioiodine are the treatment of diseases which result in hyperthyroidism (an overactive
thyroid ).
PET/CT is a type of medical imaging which highlights irregular metabolic activity which makes it useful to
detect the presence and location of a cancer.
I played other roles in the PET/CT department, for these I would also be under the supervision of the
principal medical physicist in PET/CT. I carried out contamination monitoring, contamination monitoring
as defined in my role was detecting radioactive material or radiation levels which may be defined as
hazardous to the patients and staff. As a long term goal, the logging the data of my finding and gauging
if any additional measure should be taken to ensure the safety to those involved If necessary.[4]
The facility was found to be safe , only minor changes were suggested to further reduces the
dose to staff, which is already within safe parameters .
I carried out experimental work in my role at the PET/CT department, the aim being to give some weight
to the results of my contamination monitoring in terms of the risk of an individual developing cancer as
a result of exposure to radiation.
I carried out experiments looking at the following factors , an investigation to find a count rate
to dose rate conversion, effect the distance from the source has on the count rate, as well as the effect
the orientation of the detector would have on the count rate.[5]
The results of the experimental work
were a rough count rate to dose rate conversion but saturation occurred at high activities of the source,
the effect the distance from the source had on the counts detected was as expected (an inverse square

4. proportionality, lastly the orientation of the detector was found not to matter as it was found to be
sensitive enough to compensate.
I assisted another medical physicist, a senior medical physicist with the setup and calibration of the
equipment in PET/CT in preparation for the imaging procedures which would take place on those days.
I carried out short term roles in the other MPBE groups. I spent a day with a principal physicist in the
endoscopy group helping with some data logging for measurements of luminesce at specific locations
for UV therapy equipment.
I spent two more days with the endoscopy group; 1 day involved mentoring a transition year secondary
school student as well as observing the endoscopy procedures , the second day involved viewing more
procedures and studying the framework and rational behind the maintenance of the equipment.
I spent a day with the clinical engineering group, observing quality assurance tests and learning about
the various devices and machines.
I spent a day at CAMI learning about the use of MRI from a research perspective. MRI is magnetic
resonance imaging; it uses magnetism instead of radiation making it a safer alternative to x-rays.
Knowledge Gained
From my work on the NIMIS part of my internship, I learned about aspects of team and project
management.
From carrying out my presentation on the eXposure software tool I learned how to pitch information to
a group of people in a universal manner, taking into account that some would not be as familiar with the
technical information and others would be experts. To understand the information in the software tool
I was presenting I learned about the medical physics related to dose in CT imaging as an informational
prerequisite.
My healthcare informatics project taught me how to use Matlab to analyze and graph data as
appropriately needed. Matlab is a software tool, the proper use of which is a technical programming skill
I have gained.
My role going through research papers has provided me with a solid understanding in the area of
radioiodine therapy , as well as the ability to go through scientific papers which contained information
outside areas of science I had any previous understanding off ,at a fast pace .

5. The role I undertook carrying out contamination monitoring taught me a type of thinking and logic that
proved very useful in identifying contaminations, i.e methodically isolating areas/items of interest then
scanning them to rule out contaminations .
The experimental work provided me with the skills to approach a question and answer it using the
scientific method. I learned how to design an experiment to answer a question, and how to interpret the
data in a meaningful manner, and then communicate my findings as a report.
Assisting the senior physicist in PET/CT provided me with technical skills and an understanding of the
imaging equipment and physiological effects related to the use of radioisotopes in medical imaging.
Though a combination of my assisting role above and my experimental work I learned how to handle
radioisotopes in a safe and professional manner.
My day assisting the principal physicist from the endoscopy group taught me about UV light therapy and
how it proves an effective dermatological treatment.
My time a mentor to the transition year student taught me how to impart information in a manner that
would build a knowledge base for a student to build on . I learned how to use the mentoring process
effectively as a two way communicational medium.
Melding my knowledge base from my roles in contamination monitoring, experimental work and going
through research papers provided me with an understanding that allowed me to transfer skills from any
one of the 3 to the others an then as a whole, allowing me to really understand what gauging a risk of
developing cancer from a radiation source really meant from a theoretical and practical perspective.
The time I spent in CAMI allowed me to expand my technical knowledge in the area of MRI as well as
theoretical knowledge concerning the cancer related physiological abnormalities that are scanned using
this form of imaging, I was also familiarized the use of the software tools as well as the protocols and
methods of positioning the patients.
The time I spent with the clinical engineering group taught me about the physical principals behind the
equipment the hospital uses. A technical skill gained would be how to carry out a QA.
The external services team and BTI provided me with practical training with the use of the Radcal
(radiation measuring equipment) as well as introducing me to the use of phantoms; phantoms being
objects which are specially made to analyze and properly calibrate medical imaging equipment.
I was given a tour of the St. Luke’s radiation oncology center where a clinical engineer and medical
physicist provided me with a crash course on beam radiotherapy, and an in depth explanation on how
the relevant equipment is utilized in a localized manner and whole body irradiation.

6. I carried out independent learning to supplement my experience and allow me to communicate better
with my colleges during my placement at the hospital, by means of increasing my level of technical
understanding and working on my understanding of team and organizational dynamics within the
hospital as a whole. As part of my independent learning I used the HSEland resource provided by the
hospital and completed the following certificates:
 Abstract writing and poster presentation Masterclass, July 2008
 Health, Safety and Security
 National Decontamination
 People Management - the Legal Framework
 Understanding the Mental Health Act Administrator Role
 Carbohydrate Counting
 Metabolic Laboratory Investigations
 Quality
 Service Planning
 Professional Supervision
 Encountering, Assessing and Managing Pain
 The Early Identification of Memory Problems in Older Persons
 Mechanical Ventilation
 Leading Teams: Dealing with Conflict
 Decision Making: Making Tough Decisions
 Time Management: Planning and Prioritizing Your Time
 The Voice of Leadership: Self-assessment and Motivation
 Chest Drain Management
 Arterial Blood Gas Analysis
 The Tissue Establishment Quality Management System
 Stroke Care Programme
 Descriptors for Modified Fluids and Food at SJH
 Laser Safety 'Core of Knowledge'
 Being an Effective Team Member
I used the St. James learning portal to earn the following two certificates.
 In the Line of Fire-St James
 Violence and Aggression-St James
Theory-v-Practice
The methodology, experimental and theoretical skills I gained in my studies at DCU proved useful and
quiet supplementary to my internship at St. James’s. The work was physics based with a bias towards
medical applications, being a perfect fit in terms of relevance to my studying a degree in physics with
biomedical sciences.

7. I would recommend addition of Matlab to the subjects taught during the degree, I felt it was a gap in
my training, if I knew it beforehand I would have been better prepared for my placement.
Conclusions
I found the experience quiet satisfactory, St. James’s has amazing staff all of which made every attempt to
facilitate my learning; I had the chance to try many different roles and understand the department as a
whole. With respect to my education and future employment the experience proved valuable, it gave me a
chance to try my dream job and see if I really liked the tasks it involved. I would consider working for the
MPBE department at St. James’s after graduation. I would recommend this experience to future intra
students as it is a rare chance to explore so many disciplines, even to someone who is not considering a
hospital based career the transferable technical, business, management and people skills the student would
have the chance to pick up would be incredibly valuable regardless of what career path they choose.
Appendices
[1]

14. [2]

18. [3]

22. [4]

23. [5]