New job paperwork at Duke University

by philg

A friend of a friend just got a new job at a hospital run by Duke University. He is a medical doctor. Here’s a phone camera snapshot of the part of the new job/OSHA paperwork that asks “Can you read?”

9 thoughts on “New job paperwork at Duke University”

  1. Maybe they should consider the possibility that someone can’t read and for the question create some kind of pictogram:

    1. An aluminum can
    2. Uncle Sam pointing at you
    3. Someone reading
    4. Thumbs up/Thumbs down for the response

    I believe that should complete the dumbing down of America.

  3. That is for people who are having the form filled out for them by someone else, which is not as uncommon as you might think.

    It is sort of like the sign at the post office which says: “No dogs allowed, seeing eye dogs excepted.” That’s not for the blind people, it’s for the people who look in and see dogs and are confused.

  4. “That is for people who are having the form filled out for them by someone else, which is not as uncommon as you might think.”

    That was my thought too, but it doesn’t dimish the comedy value all that much. Still worth the read.

  5. We’re not going to have one of those discussions about why drive-up ATM’s have instructions in Braille, are we?

  6. They send a lot of blue collar people into places where they need respiratory protection. You can do many blue collar jobs without reading; from time to time you even hear about an illiterate executive who conducts all his business verbally.

    To protect these people, the university must be vigilant to get this paperwork filled out for each and every person who goes into harm’s way.

  7. Original forms in PDF at the Duke Occupational Hygiene & Safety (OHS) Division:
    http://www.safety.duke.edu/OHS/RespMedClear.htm

    Duke provides similar forms for four work areas:
    – Duke Police
    – Emergency Department and Life Flight
    – Non-ED clinical staff: TB, SARS and other Airborne Pathogens
    – Pharmacy

    I suppose there is the possibility, however remote, that Duke has employees who fit three concurrent criteria:
    – are performing work that is far less glamorous than Phil’s MD friend of a friend
    – need respiratory protection for that work
    – are illiterate in English and get someone else to help with English-language paperwork.

    And perhaps it was more efficient, however marginally, to use the same form template for the different work areas. It’s possible that there is more to it than “Ha ha look at how dumb Duke is for asking MDs if they can read”.

    Btw I found the forms instantly just by searching DuckDuckGo with: duke “can you read”.

  9. @Paul,
    Please elaborate on the illiterate executive. I’ve never heard or read of that before.
    Maybe that explains the 2008 financial disaster. ))

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