Cornflake Health Physics

["GARY MANSFIELD" <GARY.MANSFIELD@quickmail.llnl.gov>]

                                        - Captain Plutonium!

                                      Cornflake Health...

Regarding the AAHP Survey - I can't resist jumping into the cybernetic fray.  
A number of folks have made some good points.  At the risk of being accused of
being an elitist snob (again or still) here are some thoughts. . .

We need to be sure that the ABHP certification MEANS something in terms of
competence and experience, and that you can't just get one out of a box of
corn flakes, or by attending a multi-thousand dollar "instant HP" course.   I
would remind everyone of the story (I heard it on the radio, so it MUST be
true) of the dog that was successfully registered by his owner as a
"Certified" Financial Planner.  

I am concerned about the pervasiveness of the ever-popular "Anyone can do
Health Physics" syndrome, where management (or whoever) decides to wave a
magic wand over a bunch of engineers, chemists, fry-cooks, or what-have-you,
and call them "Health Physicists" because they (management) don't want to bite
the bullet (and maybe pay the bucks) to get a "real" HP.    If anyone out
there in Radioactive Land hasn't seen the results of fine decisions like these
- just let me know.

I know HPs who have worked their butts off getting degrees in Health Physics,
getting real world experience, and then passing the exam.  (Modesty prohibits
me from telling you who one of these HPs is.)   "Loosening up" the criteria
for certification does a disservice to folks who have worked long and hard for
the education and experience required.  

I'm not arguing that there are no competent, experienced, UN-certified HPs out
there.   All I'm saying is that, in an era of diminishing standards (if you
can find any at all) we should not diminish ours.

DISCLAIMER:

The opinions expressed above certainly do not represent those of the
University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, or the
Department of Energy.  (You may interpret that statement any way you wish.)

Gary Mansfield (you-guessed-it, ===> CHP)