BILIRUBIN PHOTOTHERAPY AND POTENTIAL UVR HAZARDS

Bilirubin phototherapy is a treatment often used in hospitals to alleviate neonatal jaundice in newborn babies. Phototherapy utilizes blue light and although the phototherapy units emit predominately in this region, emissions from the adjacent ultraviolet region present a possible hazard if the exposure is of sufficient duration. A study of the levels of ultraviolet radiation WVR) to which patients and staff involved with phototherapy are subjected was therefore undertaken. © 1990 Health Physics Society Pergamon Press plc.