Harmonizing controls for chemicals and radionuclides.

Risk harmonization means more than harmonizing the way that the risk from ionizing radiation is managed by regulatory agencies. It also means bringing a common language and approach to the management of all environmental carcinogens. If this goal is accomplished, it can result in better communication between radiation and chemical risk managers and a better informed public. If the public understands that there is consistency and coherence in how risks are managed, they are more likely to accept risk management decisions.

Indoor radon: a case study in risk communication.

Two key questions have influenced the development and implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program to reduce the public health risks of indoor radon gas; the answers may also apply to other preventive health care programs. First, how can we best communicate risk? Risk communication research indicates that simple message, persuasion, and prescriptive guidance will best encourage citizens to protect themselves from voluntary risks (within the control of the individual), such as radon. However, scientists expect technical information, logical and unemotional appeals, and detailed explanations of uncertainty. An appropriate balance between the persuasive and the technical will encourage public action and assuage the scientific community. Second, what environmental health care problems should we focus on? Public concern with involuntary risks imposed by an external force, such as hazardous waste dumps, drive our environmental health agenda. Consequently, because government decision-makers respond to public perceptions and pressures, which they frequently support, the largest fraction of the government's resources and the most aggressive protection programs are typically reserved for environmental health problems that pose involuntary risks. The experience of the EPA's Radon Program suggests that major gains in public health protection could be achieved through communication that effectively persuades people to accept personal responsibility for preventing voluntary risks, such as radon, and a more informed dialogue between the scientific community and the public concerning national priorities for environmental health protection.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

A model career ladder approach to medical technology education.

The medical technology program at the University of Vermont was modified in 1972 to create a 2 + 2 integrated curriculum with specialty options progressing that associate degree to baccalaureate degree. This design allows the fundamentals acquired in the associate degree curriculum of the medical laboratory technician (MLT) to serve as a practical and theoretical foundation that can be expanded upon in the baccalaureate degree curriculum of the medical technologist (MT). Options in the baccalaureate degree curriculum are generalist, specialist in clinical chemistry, in hematology, and in clinical microbiology. The design of this program provides a response to the changing role of the clinical laboratory practitioner.