How One Chapter Offers a Successful Health Physics Review Course*

P.S. Stansbury and D.J. Strom (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

The Columbia Chapter of the Health Physics Society (CCHPS) offers a 12-week, 48-contact-hour course for those preparing for the American Board of Health Physics (ABHP) Part II certification exam and for those who want a refresher course in health physics. However, the review course has proved useful to those taking Part I, and there are special course activities for such students. The subjects are grouped into 22 modules, ranging from physics review to special topics in reactor and accelerator health physics. Each module consists of one hour of lecture and one hour of problem solving. Two hours of lecture with problem assignments are presented on Thursday evening from 5:00 to 7:00, and the corresponding problem-solving sessions are on the following Monday or Tuesday. This schedule gives students adequate time to attempt the problems on their own. The course is coordinated for the CCHPS by one individual, but a number of the chapter’s Certified Health Physicists lecture and do problems on subjects on which they are experts. Because some instructors may have unexpected business travel, the 12 weeks are conducted within a 16-week interval. When a class must be cancelled, it can be rescheduled without impacting the overall schedule. Participants are given a popular health physics text, and photocopies of recent ABHP Part II exams that are available. Lecture notes are provided by the various instructors. The CCHPS charges tuition for the course and pays the instructors and course coordinator modest honoraria. Many employers pay the tuition for those who enroll. The course is budgeted to break even at an enrollment of 7 students. When more than 7 enroll, which has happened the past 7 times the course has been offered, the course generates non trivial revenue for the Chapter. *Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by Battelle under Contract DE-AC06-76RLO 1830. PNNL-SA-44085

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