Well said and understood.  Pam Marcum

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Barry Rittman [mailto:brittman@admin4.hsc.uth.tmc.edu]
> Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 3:21 PM
> To: histology
> Subject: Re: BOR exam
>
>
> Mohammed
> Hey life is not fair, otherwise I would already have retired and
> be living in
> luxury.
> This is not a black and white issue.
> 1.    Some individuals while technically excellent in the work
> they do may not
> be able to work outside that sphere or necessarily solve unusual
> problems that
> can occur. A formal training can provide a broad perspective to
> their work and
> also allow that person to improve their performance no matter how
> skilled they
> are at their job.
> 2.    Examinations do not necessarily test your knowledge or
> level of skill.
> They test what you are able to regurgitate on that specific day.
> Just because
> the individual cannot answer the question does not mean that they
> do not know
> the material, it may in some cases be because they are nervous.
> If someone shot
> your horse, ran off with your spouse that day (or is it shot your
> spouse ran off
> with your horse, well you get the idea), you may not be able to
> perform at an
> optimal level in the examination.
> If you have knowledge way above that which you are expected to
> know, you may
> find that there is no one accurate answer to a question. I feel
> that examination
> in which there are only essays gives a better chance for that
> individual. Oral
> examinations are also another option as the interviewers can  be
> sympathetic and
> still determine whether an individual knows the material. We do
> have to use some
> method for comparing individuals and examination are one easy way
> to do this.
> While I am not defending these particular examinations, I should
> point out that
> writing good examination questions whether multiple choice or essay to
> adequately test a candidates knowledge is really difficult, no matter how
> experienced you are in this.
> I don't think anyone on the Histonet has suggested removing OJT
> but because of
> the enormous variation in OJT between labs I feel that some type of formal
> training is required to get closer uniformity in training and  allow us to
> compare apples to apples.
> Barry
>
> "Mohammed, Sayeed" wrote:
>
> > This is in regards to some one's concern about shortage of
> histotechs and
> > Ascp BOR exam being very difficult. Well, there is one
> histotech I know in
> > Houston Medical Center, who is cosidered to be one of the best
> techs. She is
> > an excellent cutter, Special stains, and Immunohistochemistry etct.
> > But, she has failed the BOR exam twice. There are other techs that have
> > passed the exam with flying colors and are not any where near
> as good techs
> > as this person is. In my openion, The Ascp histo tech registry
> exam should
> > be desinged to evaluate histology skills of the person not test
> them at a
> > Phd level or try to test their IQ. College education
> requirement is fine,
> > but, taking out OJT is a bad idea. There are not enough histo
> tech schools
> > to keep up with the market demand. We have been trying to find
> a histotech
> > for at least two months without luck. Any opinions on this. Thanks.
> >
> > M. Sayeed
> > ChiefTechnician
> > Dept. of  Spore Pathology
> > Baylor college of Medicine
> > Houston TX. 77030
>
>