RE: Stupid Questions

["Straka, James E." <jstraka@doeal.gov>]

How long is the 10 half-lives to finally beat this horse to death??

Jim Straka
Albuquerque, NM

>----------
>From: 	Karam, Andrew[SMTP:Andrew_Karam%urmc.rochester.edu@internet.al.gov]
>Sent: 	03 September, 1999 1:39 PM
>To: 	Multiple recipients of list
>Subject: 	RE: Stupid Questions
>
>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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