Re: the health physics profession

["Michael G. Stabin" <michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.edu>]

> (2) It must have an established body of knowledge and skills that must be

> mastered to be recognized as a member of the profession.  I'm not so sure,

> here.  You said that, "...how can you say that the health physics

profession has

> not established nor practices enforcement of any professional standards?

This is

> clearly an untenable position."  OK, you got me.  Where are these

standards

> published?  How are they enforced?



1) Standards begin with established bodies of educational material that are

objective and agreed upon, which we have. If you look at the programs that

offer formal degrees with HP as a speciality, the core courses are very

consistent, and the electives are all taught within well established and

rigorously tested disciplines. An accreditation process is currently under

discussion and will probably be implemented.

2) Codes of professional practice have been clearly delineated through:

a) Regulations - NRC, EPA, DOE, state regs, and so on.

b) Scientific standards - AAPM/HPS standards, ICRP and NCRP documents,

NUREGs, Reg Guides, Federal Guidance Reports, etc, etc.

c) The HP certification process. True, this is not mandatory as in some

professions, but standards for good and bad practice, as well as ethical

conduct are clearly established.

d) An established peer-reviewed literature defining acceptable and not

acceptable levels of science that supports the profession.



It is true that there are points where clarity could be improved and

nonuniformities that could be corrected, but this is true in almost any

discipline. To say that there are "no standards" was what I was arguing

with.



> 3.  When a member of the profession makes a professional determination, it

can

> only be credibly disputed by another recognized member of the profession.

For

> example, if you want to sue a physician for malpractice, you have to get

the

> support of another physician.  Here, we fail miserably.  It seems that

anyone

> who's ever been within a mile of a geiger counter is accepted as a hp.



This is a bit strong, but you have a point here. There is some practice of

radiation safety out there by people with minimal training and/or

supervision. We (as professionals) can strive to correct this, but we don't

need to throw the baby out with the bathwater by slamming the

professionalism of those who are well trained, perhaps certified, and

practicing a well defined discipline with diligence and integrity. I

appreciate your suggestions for improvements in our practice, I just don't

see the need to be quite so harsh on the people who are basically doing a

good job. We have enough folks out there doing that for us. We should

reserve our tough comments for those who really do demonstrably fail to meet

standards of good practice.



Mike



Michael G. Stabin, PhD, CHP

Assistant Professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences

Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences

Vanderbilt University

1161 21st Avenue South

Nashville, TN 37232-2675

Phone (615) 343-0068

Fax   (615) 322-3764

Pager (615) 835-5153

e-mail     michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.edu

internet   www.doseinfo-radar.com







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