AMERICAN ACADEMY OF HEALTH PHYSICS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEEMinutes of Meeting of January 31, 2000 Virginia Beach, VA[Editors' note: The draft meeting minutes summarized here were provided by Elizabeth Brackett, Academy Secretary. Although the Executive Committee has not formally approved them and will not have the opportunity until the Denver meeting, they are presented in the interests of timely information exchange.] President’s ReportPresident Herman Cember reviewed a number of issues that he had addressed during his tenure in the past year and thought were important for continued involvement. These included:
President-Elect’s ReportPresident-elect Chuck Roessler had submitted a written report that was in the members’ notebooks. He has spent a good bit of time organizing committees and noted that he had been involved in the industrial hygiene issue discussed during President Cember’s report. Treasurer’s ReportTreasurer Tom Buhl referred the members to his written report contained in their materials. He thanked Cheryl Bikowski and Nancy Johnson for their data management support. He also noted that Jean St. Germaine had done a great job. He distributed an attachment with the final budget numbers for discussion. He said last year had been great and discussed the items in his report. An intermediate term fund was formalized in September and is doing quite well. We have 75% of our investments in stock, which is the maximum allowed by our investment policy, and 25% in bonds. He clarified that although the last bulleted item said that an audit was conducted, this was only a financial review because a full audit is required only once every three years. Program Director’s ReportProgram Director Nancy Johnson had submitted a written report that was among the members’ materials. Lee Booth asked about the continued growth in the number of Non-active CHPs. N. Johnson stated that the last big contact with these people was in 1990, giving them an opportunity to "come back into the fold." She did not know why the number was so large but it was noted that an individual is still certified if non-active. She said that if someone inquired about the status of an individual she would tell him or her if the individual had not re-certified. There was a discussion as to why people would not want to re-certify and how we could get them back. H. Cember suggested that some people might not re-certify because their duties had changed to administrative rather then technical. Individuals can become active again by successfully completing their certification application for the current four-year period. Nancy Johnson said that most of these people were retired; T. Buhl that they might therefore have a lot of experience and more time to participate in committees. He suggested that we make another contact to them similar to that in 1990 and possibly every 10 years. Installation of 2000 OfficersPresident Cember officially installed the new officers of the Executive Committee: Dale Denham (Director), Elizabeth Brackett (Secretary), Charles Roessler (President), Lee Booth (President-elect), and Herman Cember (Past President). Continuing Education CommitteeChair L. Aldrich was not in attendance but a written report had been submitted for inclusion in the members’ notebooks. There was a discussion regarding the two courses scheduled for the current meeting. One course had been cancelled because of low enrollment, but R. Toohey’s internal dosimetry class was well attended and had received very favorable comments. Tom Buhl asked about the possibility of videotaping some of these classes for income. There was discussion about the Health Physics Society taping classes, but it was thought that these were for the History Committee. Joe Alvarez stated that the University of Cincinnati stores the tapes for the HPS and handles their rental or sale. It was recommended that the Continuing Education Committee review the merit of using tapes of AAHP-sponsored classes as a continuing education tool and a historical tool. Rather than start our own lending library we should negotiate with the HPS. CHPs receive half the credit for viewing the tapes as for attending the course. Joe Alvarez was designated as the liaison between AAHP and HPS Continuing Education Committee; he is currently a member of the committee and is the incoming chair. The issue of whether or not we should pursue the taping of our courses and, if so, the negotiation with the HPS is referred back to the Academy Continuing Education Committee. Finance CommitteeChair Tom Buhl referred to the budget reports included in the members’ materials. In addition, he distributed a graph of 1999 investments. He stated that the Academy has reached its long-term goals for short and long-term funds about three years ahead of schedule and asked if we wanted to revise the goals. Ed Maher suggested asking our financial advisor. The Finance Committee will be meeting with him in April and they will discuss it with him. The collection of dues has been changed to require payment once a year, eliminating the option to pay once every four years. This will eliminate some instability in the budget. The budget will be put together soon, with requests for committee budgetary needs going out in February or March. The Finance Committee will meet in April and will present the budget for FY 2001 at the June meeting. Nominating Committee's 2000 Slate of CandidatesChair John Baum was not present but a slate of candidates was included in the members’ materials. Ruth McBurney, who was a member of the committee, noted that it was difficult getting candidates this year. The ballot must go out to Academy members within 60 days of receipt of the slate from the committee. A motion (Maher, Booth) was made to accept the nominees. The motion was passed unanimously. Professional Development CommitteeChair Tom Essig reviewed the items contained in the report in the members’ materials. Items discussed included: The AAHP pays $5000 per year for membership in the Council of Engineering and Scientific Specialty Boards (CESB). George Vargo agreed to gather the necessary information and submit the application. The CESB has an annual meeting and it had been decided in the past that the ABHP should participate in these meetings. George Vargo will attend this year’s meeting. The HPS RSO section has reviewed the University Radiation Safety Officer SQ/P developed by the PDC twice. There was some discussion as to how to get this "in the pipeline." The PDC will next tackle the issue of promulgation and we hope to have their recommendations by the June meeting. There was also discussion about printing this for distribution. Motion (Maher, Alvarez) to accept SQ/P as amended with the provision that minor editorial changes are permitted. The motion passed. The report also addressed AAHP folders for holding information for prospective candidates. There is currently no budget for producing these. A discussion of their need ensued. Ruth McBurney noted that if we wanted to encourage certification at other meetings it would be nice to have folders available to display at other meetings, e.g., CRCPD rather than at the HPS meeting. We can keep them in reserve at the HPS meeting and use them for selective distribution. The advice to the Professional Development Committee is to include it in their next budget request. Nancy Johnson thanked Tom Essig and Jan Johnson, the outgoing PDC members, for all their work on the booth setup and tear down during their tenures. Professional Standards & Ethics CommitteeChair John Kelly was not present but a written report had been submitted. Joyce Davis passed away during her tenure as chair of the committee so John Kelly, who had previous experience with the committee, was asked to become the acting chair for the remainder of the year. Otto Raabe was brought back onto the committee and agreed to be the chair for the coming year. The report contained two recommendations. Gary Kephart will draft a summary statement of the SOP for the newsletter. The second recommendation was to establish a Joyce P. Davis Memorial Award. Dale Denham will lead an ad hoc committee to review and amplify this recommendation and report back. LiaisonsCRCPD: Ruth McBurney discussed a number of issues:
A motion was made to allocate money for 2000 folders, not to exceed $2000. The motion passed unanimously. A motion was made to cease funding the ABMP
until a reciprocal agreement is agreed upon.
The ABMP accepts part 1 of the ABHP exam. The ABHP has not yet offered anything in return. The argument for participation in the ABMP exam was that we would try to get people who aren’t certified by ABHP certified by the ABMP. Many people in medical health physics feel that much of the information on the ABHP exam is not applicable to them, similar to the argument used for the power reactor specialty in the past. We’re making sure that CHPs have input to the exam and that it meets our minimum standards. Joe Alvarez stated that his ad hoc committee was supposed to have been working on a white paper addressing this issue but he had not previously understood all of the factors and individuals involved. The committee will continue work on a position paper to be presented at the June meeting. After much discussion, the motion failed. Newsletter EditorsEditor Gary Kephart was present and referred to his report included in the members’ information packets. He discussed a few additional items:
Report of the American Board of Health PhysicsABHP Chair Ed Maher went through each item in his report that was included in the members’ packets. The Part 1 pass rate was discussed. It typically does not vary much from year to year but it was considerably lower than average this year. The Board investigated this issue but did not arrive at a definitive conclusion. The report contains a discussion of the items they investigated. This was the first year that a formula and constant sheet was used with the Part 2 exam. Ed plans to write a newsletter article asking if this was useful. The feedback he’s received so far says it was not. Herman Cember wanted some items more clearly defined on the formula sheet. There was a discussion regarding who could change the sheet. The Panel chair reviews everything and passes recommendations to the Board, but others can also make recommendations. The nominations for new Board members will appear on the June agenda. At its fall meeting, the Board reformatted its Procedure and Policy Manuals to support its application to the CESB. An ad hoc committee was also formed to consider the merits of retaining Part II questions. The Board is exploring the option of retaining Part II Examinations (collecting all Part II Examination booklets after the exam and releasing only a controlled portion of the questions, if any) in order to provide more consistent testing results from year to year. Those in favor of retaining rights to this intellectual property claim that reusing questions that statistically perform well, without major modification of the question, may be difficult if the questions are in the public domain. Preparing the Part II Examination from scratch every year results in questions that have been reviewed by peers but not performance-tested in an actual examination setting. Those opposed to the concept of retaining Part II Examinations cite the importance of using previous years' examinations as a platform for studying for the Part II Examination. In addition, retaining the examinations can be perceived by some as being elitist and may not assist in professional development of entry-level health physicists. The ABHP is unique in its approach to the Part II Examination. Most examination boards have long ago adopted machine-scored examinations with questions that are closely held as intellectual property. The ABHP is in the process of reviewing its examination specifications against current standards and will be receiving a report from its testing consultant in the spring. Any changes in examination format or content will likely take 2-3 years to implement and will be widely published to all affected parties. Accreditation of Academic HP ProgramsDale Denham read excerpts from the 1999-2000 report from the Academic Education Committee, Richard Brey, chair. It requested the HPS Board approve and authorize submittal of the HPS application to the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) to become the cognizant technical society responsible for the academic accreditation of health physics. The accreditation subcommittee unanimously voted to use ABET as the accrediting body for health physics accreditation. The HPS Board voted to apply to ABET as a cognizant technical society in order to assist with the accreditation process. The cost is $7400 per year; the AAHP contributed $1000 to this effort. If the application is accepted it will be about two years before institutions can start applying for accreditation. Nineteen universities expressed interest. Chuck Roessler spoke with Richard Brey to let him know that the Academy felt they were stakeholders in this issue also. He said that if the Board approves this, the next step would be to establish ties with the Academy and ANS. This will be an agenda item for June. Process for Selecting New Committee MembersHerman Cember would like to change the process for selecting committee members so new people can get involved. Wants to get young people with no experience involved. The current process generally involves selecting people you know on the volunteer list first, and asking others about the people you don’t know. This perpetuates the "old buddy" network. One suggestion discussed was to put names in a hat and draw them out. The President-elect agreed to keep this concern in mind when selecting committee members. Strategic Plan Follow-upChuck Roessler noted that the strategic plan was approved in January 1999. Implementation hasn’t been looked at adequately. The plan needs to be brought to the attention of the various committees. He asked President-elect Booth to chair an ad hoc committee to review these documents and identify areas where we should begin the action programs. The committee is also to include Herman Cember. Health Physics as a Discipline and Interdisciplinary RelationshipsThis item was deferred until June. Chuck Roessler noted that there were a lot of threads in this meeting that relate to this issue, such as title protection, task force, relationships with other societies. Chuck charged everyone to think about this - do we need a standing or ad hoc committee for interdisciplinary and peripheral organization relationships; do we need a lot of other liaisons? Herman Cember volunteered to be the liaison with the industrial hygiene organizations because he is involved with them. Chuck will correspond with their respective presidents to see if they want to make it a two-way relationship. SEE YOU IN DENVER !! Question Writing For Part 1The Part 1 Exam Panel is always looking for good multiple choice questions to add to the exam bank. Acceptance of the question into the exam bank will be awarded certification maintenance continuing education credits (CECs). (Submittal of copy of written acceptance from the ABHP Exam Panel is required for credit: 1 CEC per Part I question, 4 per Part II question with a maximum 16 per re-certification cycle.) Part 1 questions are reviewed at the annual Exam Panel meeting in November. The questions must be approved for inclusion in the bank; awarding of CECs has no bearing on whether items may or may not appear on the exam. Questions about instrumentation, operational health physics and non-ionizing radiation are especially needed. Questions should be designed so that the well-qualified candidate will be able to answer it correctly. The minimally qualified candidate for Part I is profiled as having: a BS in Health Physics and 1 year experience; a BS in the physical sciences, biology (with a minor in the physical sciences or equivalent) or engineering and 2 years experience; or a MS in Health Physics or a MS in the physical sciences, biology (with a minor in the physical sciences or equivalent) or engineering. The candidate experience is reviewed to verify involvement in workplace analytical problem solving on a professional level. The ABHP question consists of a premise followed by five choices, only one of which is correct. A brief narrative, explanation of calculations and a reference if possible, should be included for both the correct answer and the distracters. The basic format consists of a stem followed by five choices. The stem may be either a statement to be completed or a question. All information common to all answers should be included in the stem. Insure that all of the choices are grammatically correct. Avoid:
Construction of the stem is extremely important. It should contain sufficient information to answer the questions, but knowledge of basic health physics does not have to be included. Creating an effective stem will make construction of the distracters easier. Avoid obscure words and nonsense terms. The correct answer must be unequivocally correct and the distracters must be plausible but unequivocally wrong. All answers should be about the same length and avoid buzzwords that might give away the correct answer. The use of action verbs is a good idea. The incorrect answers must be absolutely wrong, unless the stem asks for the best answer. No distracter should be ridiculous. Trick questions must be avoided; the goal is to ensure that the well-qualified candidate will select the correct answer. Do not use synonyms as distracters. When writing calculation questions, look for reasonable distracters and do not always put 2 higher and 2 lower then the correct answer. Each distracter in calculations should be obtained by a logical mistake, such as a mathematical error. For typical questions, check out the exam prep guide
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A listing of references is also at this site. ??? If the preceding article looks familiar, it is because we have run it before. It was determined that it bore repeating since both good questions and continuing education credits are always hard to come by. – the editors ??? Contemplating an Initial-ectomyThe typical boot hill epitaph might read "What's-His-Name, R.I.P." If three initials is enough to take us into the afterlife, maybe we shouldn't need too many more to survive in this life.? Jimmy Carter thought ending reprocessing would limit weapons proliferation. Do you suppose if we went after photocopying we could impact credential proliferation? There are times when CHP is short for "can't help pondering."
The 1999 membership opinion survey conducted within the Academy included the entry: "Mutually supportive relationships should be pursued with those certifying agencies in allied safety professions, and other forms of reciprocity should be pursued in the continuing education/re-certification area." There was general consensus of agreement with this proposition, and, in fact the upcoming Denver meeting of the HPS will include an emphasis on continuing education courses having an industrial hygiene bent overlapping into the professional practice of health physics. On the other hand, the recent Academy efforts to build appropriate reciprocity and involvement with the American Board of Medical Physics has produced significant backlash amongst some of our respected colleagues in the medical health physics community and consensus seems a distant goal. The American Board of Industrial Hygiene recently announced its intent to begin offering of an "associate-level" industrial hygiene certification: The "certified associate industrial hygienist." They report that it is targeted at "EHS professionals who do not practice IH a majority of their total work time as well as those who primarily function in a single IH rubric area such as air pollution, ergonomics, health physics, etc. and do not meet the CIH requirement for broad-scope IH work experience." I was personally a little amazed that they would rate four initials [CAIH], clearly implying greater importance than the three awarded for CIH. You're thinking: But one more does not make a "proliferation". To that I say: YOU'RE RIGHT… We already had out-of-control credentialing in the HS&E professions before this recent ABIH announcement. There's the certified safety professional, the registered sanitarian, the certified hazardous materials manager, the certified hazard control manager, the certified professional ergonomist, the qualified environmental professional, and lots more I can neither remember nor spell. Steve Rima reports that there is an effort underway to develop a new ANSI Standard on competence and certification in the safety industry. It is designated ANSI Z590, "Criteria for Establishing Levels of Competence and Certification in the Safety Profession." The AIHA and ASSE are apparently both represented but Steve was unsure what other organizations were involved in this industry consensus standard's development. The National Safety Council has recently created a certified utility safety administrator program intended to recognize the skills of safety personnel at utility companies, with CUSA certification via examination scheduled to have rolled out around May 31 of this year. Last fall the certified safety professionals also initiated a specialty examination in ergonomics available to current CSPs. The unscrupulous could probably pick initials at random to list after their names and find they've hit on an actual existing credential acronym. A January 1999 article in Occupational Hazards magazine announced the rationale for creation of another credential in safety management, the certified safety and health manager (CSHM). If I saw that on a vanity license plate ¾ I'd think of a John Wayne movie ¾ not another health and safety colleague. Some would probably argue that the model for CHP interface with the NRRPT, ABMP and other credentialing organizations involved with the professional practice of health physics and health physics specialties might differ from the appropriate organizational interaction with global and peripheral credentials such as safety, ergonomics, or waste management. For example, there is that elite group of Ph.D.'s, MD's, and the occasional lawyer that we proudly count among the CHP membership. It could be argued that the CSPs and CIHs with dual CHP credentials have similarly demonstrated they are capable of functioning at the professional level in more than one profession. To their credit, the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) convened representatives of many of the recognized safety, health and environmental credentials to initiate a dialog around organizational interaction and presumably, credential "dilution". Herman Cember and Ruth McBurney represented the Academy in these discussions, including some face-to-face meetings about a year ago. It remains unclear whether these initial meetings produced sufficient common ground for any group initiatives to move forward. The current labor market trend seems to be a pendulum swing towards generalists and "multi-tasking" environmental safety and health professionals. It is difficult to forecast whether or when it might swing back toward specialty disciplines. We CHPs still have a hardy core of spectroscopists and dosimetrists who manage to earn a paycheck while seldom venturing into other health physics rubrics, much less into the other safety, environmental, and hygiene disciplines. However, it has also been my observation that we have recently lost many of these specialists to the information technology fields. So where is this article going? It is simply a reminder of the challenge we all face as professionals. That other credential you are considering attempting may advance your standing or your earnings as a professional (or just your own self-satisfaction). All of those may be valid reasons. At some point, there are too many initials after your name for anyone to place much importance in the CHP. When that occurs, you have to ask yourself whether you still place the same pride and importance in the credential that you once did. Maybe with those RIP initials in mind, the importance you attribute to the CHP is all that really matters. Gary Kephart The HPS Video LibraryIn view of the ever tightening travel and training budgets, all CHPs should be aware that the Health Physics Society is working toward availability of a videotape library from past meeting training sessions, housed at the University of Cincinnati. Additional information is available at the HPS web site at URL: http://www.hps.org/aboutthesociety/historyandmission/ourheritage.cfm This is primarily a video tape collection. It is relatively new having begun as a means for preserving both the tapes and handouts developed for the Professional Enrichment and Continuing Education programs at both annual meetings and topical symposia. In addition, it contains a few much earlier video tapes such as "Vignettes of Early Radiation Workers" and may eventually expand beyond tapes. The collection is in process of being moved from San Diego State University. A mechanism is being readied for renting out or otherwise using the collection. It is to be operated by "Trefoil", the student branch of the HPS in Cincinnati. The Academy/Board continuing education procedure already allows utilization of videotaped courses with credit to be awarded at one-half the credit value assigned for attendance at the original class. As more courses are taped, this will also provide some relief from the frustration that inevitably results when both the technical topics you are most interested in are scheduled in the same time slot. According to the web site information, details of library access can be obtained from: Henry B. Spitz, Ph.D.
Note: The teaching materials and audiovisuals from the summer schools are archived by the HPS Continuing Education Committee. Several books have resulted from these summer courses. Contact the Executive Secretariat or the current chairperson of the Continuing Education Committee for details. MISSING IN ACTIONThe Academy does not have current addresses or information on the following people who were certified by the American Board of Health Physics. If you have a current address or any information concerning any of the following people, please contact Nancy Johnson at the Secretariat office, 703-790-1745 extension 25, or mailto:njohnson@burkinc.com Boone M. Bowen, Certified in 1963
REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCEHealth Physicist Job Task Analysis QuestionnaireA job-task analysis questionnaire has been constructed using input of a consultant expert in order to re-baseline the appropriate content of the ABHP examination. Part of the technical under-pinning of the CHP credential requires that we sample across the breadth of our profession on a reasonable frequency to determine whether the fundamental activities that make-up our professional lives have changed. The ABHP examination "blueprint" is then structured as a reflection of these activities and their relative importance in contributing as a professional health physicist. For this reason, the questionnaire is very important in shaping the future of the certification process. Likewise, a statistically representative cross-section response from current CHPs is crucial. The form takes approximately 2 hours to complete and 4 continuing education credits will be awarded to those CHPs who return a completed questionnaire. If you haven't received it, call the Secretariat; it you haven't submitted it, please do so. All active CHPs are encouraged to participate in the job task analysis as a critical mechanism in maintaining the validity of our credentialing process. WORDSMITH WANTEDEditor, CHP News and "CHP Corner"The AAHP Nominating Committee is seeking candidates for the position of Editor of the CHP News and "CHP Corner." The CHP News is the newsletter of the AAHP. Currently, it is published semi-annually and co-distributed with the June and December issues of the HPS Newsletter. The "CHP Corner" is a full-page column published in the HPS Newsletter in the remaining months. The purpose of the Academy editors is to act as a communication conduit for dissemination of information, primarily to the AAHP membership, but also to the larger health physics profession. At the suggestion of past Editor-in-chief Nancy Daugherty, the current editors, Gary Kephart and Steve Rima have developed a rolling transition plan under which an incumbent, following appointment by the Academy leadership, would have a period of mentoring as an Associate Editor, gradually assume ultimate responsibility for the publications and associated deadlines, and subsequently step aside from that role to become the mentor for a future replacement. This arrangement is also intended to allow some "back-up" for vacation relief, pre-deadline arm-twisting, and other exigencies. Steve has committed to assume the Editor-in-Chief role. Having held down the position for about 3 years, Gary is ready to help another CHP prepare to eventually take the reins from Steve. The duration of this editorial commitment will be left to mutual agreement between Steve and the incumbent; both serve subject to annual reappointment by the Academy President. Current functions of the Editor include the following: Attending, in a non-voting status, the AAHP Executive Committee meetings held at the Annual and Mid-year meetings of the HPS; Remaining current as to the activities of the AAHP and the ABHP; Writing and soliciting articles for publication in the CHP News and "CHP Corner"; Providing typing, editing, and formatting for these publications; Preparing and submitting budget requests to the AAHP Finance Committee; and Submitting the CHP News and "CHP Corner" on schedule to the HPS Newsletter for printing and distribution. Candidates will preferably:
If you have questions concerning this position, you may contact Gary Kephart (217-935-8881, x4211). Please submit applications by September 1, 2000 to the Academy Nominating Committee Chairman: William Beck,
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