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in reply to: Professional Registration #1351
Hi Ali,
I started off as a C (3?) grade Technician and have ended up as an F (6?) grade Technical Manager (assuming 1=A and 26+Z) via a couple of promotions. That was for posts that opened up in the department due to people leaving or retiring and me not being completely incompetent and in the right place at the right time.
If you were at Newcastle I would say it looks like you are trying to get the post re graded rather than gaining a promotion through an advertised vacancy. So it is about the post rather than the person ie you feel that you are operating at a grd 6 level but only getting a level 5 pay. It is possible to do but isn`t easy I don`t have any direct experience but have been in meetings with other Technical Managers about it. If you wanted to have a chat about it over the phone my work number is 01912086969 as a lot of it depends on how your HR policy’s work.
Some other Technical Managers in Faculty of Medical Sciences @ Ncl have been pushing Professional Registration quite hard, so again have heard a lot about it. My feeling is that it is aimed at the research sector and it`s being pushed as there is a feeling that the Funding Bodies are going to want to see it. I looked at it and came to the conclusion that for myself as a technician involved in teaching that Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy might be a better, cheaper and more straight forward bet. As the HEA is probably more understood and recognised by Teaching Academics. This is a personal point of view and I think Steve Franey should be lurking somewhere ready to reply, as he is registered (with the science council before his solicitor gets involved) and the London rep for Heated.
As I said if you want to have a chat give me a call
BrianHi Steven,
We get the occasional call like that. I go with some thing along the lines of, it`s outside the scope and expertise of what we do and that genetics, lifestyle and luck are the biggest factors. They are usually happy with that. The most interesting one was a solicitor asking for a DNA sample about a year after the donor had arrived. That was a flat no but you have to wonder what that was about!
Brian
in reply to: Formaldehyde legislation #1344Hi Steve,
It has all gone a bit quiet on that front but as we could never find more than 0.01ppm I wasn’t to worried about it. What did catch me by surprise was that formaldehyde has been reclassified to carcinogenic cat 1b and mutagen cat 2. Although to be fair our University Bio Safety Officer had to hide her surprise when the HSE mentioned it on a routine visit about bio safety, so it wasn`t just me.
Again not really a dramatic development just a bit more paperwork, happy days etc.
best wishes
Brianin reply to: Dissolving bone – need a bit of help. #1331Hi Declan,
This sounds a bit like they could add “premeditation” to the charge as well ;-) The only place I have come across this before is a cold cremation technique where the proposal was to dissolve bodies in a caustic soda solution in a heated/pressurised vessel then neutralise the caustic soda chemically and release the solution in to a reed bed. Doing that through an anatomical burn with your clinical waste provider could work. Although I would love to see the look on your Sustainability Managers (used to be a waste managers) face when you asked what the European Waste Code for that was! I guess it depends on how much bone you are dissolving and if you can justify it as a destructive technique. If you could draw an analogy to using beetles in a forensic anthropology type way, that would probably help as its more of a known. I always wondered what they did with the beetles when they were done!
hope semester 1 is going well
BrianAt Newcastle the longest we have ever left it is 8 days, they were in a mortuary fridge at 4oC. They were in surprisingly good condition, better than some that were only a mortuary for 1 day. We usually have a cut off of 5 days but that is a bit negotiable depending on where they are and how long it will take to get them to us.
Did you find any literature? I might have a rummage round the internet/pubmed next time I can`t sleep!
Brian
in reply to: Loan of cadaver #1235Hi Dave,
I have just heard a rumour that one of our post grad courses is going else where next year, so you may be in luck!
Can you give me a ring on 01912086969 and we can have a chat.
cheers
Brian
in reply to: Blade Disposal. Please Help. #1205We had a similar problem because under the old regime accidents didn`t usually get reported so we had a bit of a spike in the graph when I took over. We still do but they are happy that it`s as good as it`s going to get and we have made it as safe as possible but there will always be a few cack-handed muppets, about 0.01% in our case (stats tend to shut academics up ;-))!
The dept. have used the Swan Morton blue box things in the dim and distant past and stopped using them because people didn`t get on with them, we got the blade flasks after we saw them at UCL and I think they are a much better product. We got one free of the rep to try, so you could give it ago.
in reply to: Blade Disposal. Please Help. #1203Another vote for bladeflasks, ours also come with an instruction that they should be fitted to the wall. However I and our Safety Office think it it’s a lot safer, with our lab set up, to take the sharps bin to the blade rather than wandering around with a blade looking for a bin We also use disposable blades for surgical training and student dissection projects as it eliminates the risk of them cutting themselves when taking blades on and off (although some of them do still manage to cut themselves!).
In terms of consumables the cost difference of the single use blades vs disposables is minimal, especially when you take into account the time taken filling in paperwork and talking about every stabbing at a safety meeting.
Are you getting grief about accident rates?
in reply to: EU Biocides Directive Formaldehyde #1186It took some doing but I have found this link which should take you through to the document. I ‘ ll post some more tomorrow when I am back on a PC as an iPad isn’t great for posting ( or hunting down obscure links!).
Cheers
Brianin reply to: EU Biocides Directive Formaldehyde #1185It took some doing but I have found this link which should take you through to the document. I ‘ ll post some more tomorrow when I am back on a PC as an iPad isn’t great for posting ( or hunting down obscure links!).
Cheers
Brianin reply to: import of fresh frozen material #1173Hi Dave,
The NSTC use science care as well :-We use a company called Sciencecare, the contact is
You have to request a quote for your specific specimen requirement
She will supply an invoice
This must be pre paid by BACS before they will release the order
You will be required to sign a contract for the order specifying that
you hold a licence etc.
All sciencecare specimens are supplied with a serology report as these
are tested before shipment. You also receive a full spec on the
individual for any audit trail
They will organise customs and shipment (at a cost)
You will need to request around 6 weeks in advance, once ordered this
cannot be cancelled.Lorraines email is lorraine.waugh@nuth.nhs.uk if you want some more background
cheers
Brianin reply to: import of fresh frozen material #1169Hi Dave,
The Newcastle Surgical Training Centre imports from the U.S. all the time. Unfortunatly the management there are all on holiday at the moment, so it will be a couple of weeks before I can get them to tell you about there experience. Give me a kick if i don`t get back in touch, unless somebody else comes up with the info.
Cheers
Brianin reply to: Holiday Arrangements #1115Hi,
Newcastle shuts down for Christmas as well and we use that as one of the examples of when we wouldn`t accept a body when we are talking to potential donors. Everyone always seems to accept that as a given.
We do get people ringing up out of hours and at weekends/holidays about donors that have died, we don`t give out a mobile number anymore but I get an email on my phone if somebody leaves a message and we can get in touch if we need to. It does mean you can talk to a Dr that actually knows what`s going on as well, especially if it`s a hospital. I tend to find that if Bereavement Services get involved it`s not a good thing!
I think a lot of it depends on how you work and what individual departments feel is right for them, the Uni has an expectation that they can get hold of someone 24/7/365 in case of fire/flood etc but that is dependent on your grade anyway. There would not be an expectation to actually bring a body in and start embalming.
For us screening the calls by answer phone takes some of the pain out of it. Even if you do loose an hour organising an undertaker to look after the body over the weekend or 10 minutes explaining to relatives why you can`t accept because it`s Christmas.
Brian
in reply to: Standing order mandate #1072If you can set it up via internet banking please do as it will save me a job. The account details are Sort code 089299 account number 65539354. Please make it obvious who the payment is from so we can tie it to you and return you membership renewal form so we can keep everything upto date.
Cheers
Brian
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