RE: Stupid Questions

["Karam, Andrew" <Andrew_Karam@URMC.Rochester.edu>]

I can teach someone to use a meter correctly, to perform unit conversions,
to properly interpret results, and so forth.  That's what we do with junior
techs without much work experience.  I can't teach someone to show up to
work on time, give me a full day's work, to take pride in their work, and to
want to do things correctly.  That's what I base hiring decisions on for
junior techs.  I would rather hire someone with a good work ethic and no
knowledge of radiation safety than a lazy genius.  In the long run, I'll
always come out ahead that way.

With all due respect to those who feel that some questions are beneath our
dignity to answer, we don't all have the luxury of hiring only personnel
with previous experience.  And, if we all did that, we would run out of HPs,
techs, and a profession within a few decades.  New people have to learn
somewhere, the same as we all did.  Or is our profession undergoing planned
obsolescence as we gear up for a non-nuclear world?

Even relatively senior personnel sometimes run into a "fundamental" question
for which they don't know the answer because of a lack of knowledge or
experience in that specific area.  This happens to me frequently because my
academic background is in geology but I find myself at an institution doing
a lot of medical research.  So I spend a lot of time asking our researchers
things like "How does electrophoresis work?" or "What's a Dalton?"  I would
like to hope that they view this as an honest attempt to improve my
job-related knowledge and not as a sign of my incompetence.

My understanding is that Radsafe is a resource for EVERYONE working in
health physics, regardless of their standing and experience in the field.  I
sincerely hope that the techs working for me will feel comfortable asking me
whatever questions they might have as they arise rather than trying to
muddle through on their own.  We should also hope that a junior HP tech will
feel comfortable asking relatively simple questions of more established
peers, mentors, and leaders in our field.

In an ideal world, I guess, we would all be born knowing fundamental
concepts.  I wasn't, and I needed a fairly large investment in training
before I could view some questions as "stupid".  If people new to our field
are now hesitant to ask questions on Radsafe because of the response this
question received, you may feel free to contact me and I will try to help
off-list and without making any inferences regarding your qualifications to
hold your job.  Better to ask and KNOW than to assume and screw up. 

Andy

Andrew Karam, CHP              (716) 275-1473 (voice)
Radiation Safety Officer          (716) 275-3781 (office)
University of Rochester           (716) 256-0365 (fax)
601 Elmwood Ave. Box HPH   Rochester, NY  14642

Andrew_Karam@URMC.Rochester.edu
http://Intranet.urmc.rochester.edu/RadiationSafety
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