Perhaps the bane of my existence in the lab is bureaucracy. It comes in many forms but primarily it exists in the form of the the Animal Care Office and the Health Protection Office. Both offices perform an important function but for heaven's sake, could there be any more hoops to jump through. For any experiment we perform involving animals, we must have an approved protocol that covers everything from my anesthesia method to the type of suture material I am using to the frequency of post operative observation. Now don't get me wrong, I am not against oversight. Actually, I believe oversight of animal care is vitally important. However, it can get a little ridiculous. Research is an evolving process which means that I have to continually amend our animal care protocols as things change. Paper work is a pain.
The Health Protection Office is even worse. They are continually changing the rules regarding chemical storage and so forth. Don't store acids and bases together, chemicals can't be on a shelf without a lip, certain chemicals must be in secondary containers, and so forth. There are also a number of online tests that we must take each year. I am supposed to ensure that everyone in my lab is up to date but they won't give me access to their database so I am unable to see who needs to take which test.
The saving grace in all of this is that the people who come in to audit all the labs are easy to work with and easy to get along with.
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This blog is an attempt to document some of the successes and challenges of my job as a researcher.
1 comment:
I'm sorry you have to jump through so many hoops. I am always amazed that the gov't, in general, gets anything done because of all the bureaucratic messes they always have. I don't think I could work for the gov't. I think there are many that have to work with us here on campus (Purchasing) that feel the same way about us because we, too, have some protocol (which is constantly being pushed or broken by rebel professors and/or chefs.) :) I guess we just have to live with it because there is purpose behind it all as you have explained. Think about how much quicker we could get things done, though, with all the red tape!
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