Nuclear Medicine Technology Schools: Growing Opportunities
Nuclear medicine technology schools will prepare you for this allied medical field by providing both the technical knowledge and necessary training to administer diagnostic tests – under a physician’s guidance -- using gamma cameras.
A nuclear medicine technologist can either comple te a one-year certificate program, usually offered in hospitals, a two-year associate degree program or a four-year bachelor degree program from any accredited nuclear medicine technology schools, and be certified for employment.
What does a technologist do?
Unlike other jobs also using diagnostic imaging equipment like x-rays, ultrasounds or MRI, nuclear medicine uses radiopharmaceuticals (drugs made from unstable atoms emitting radiation spontaneously) to determine the presence of disease based on metabolic changes in the particular tissue or organ being diagnosed. The technologist’s primary equipment is the gamma camera, used to detect and map the radioactive substance in the patient’s body. But the job involves stricter monitoring of the patient because the technologist must note characteristic and functional activity after the drug is administered to come up with a diagnostic image.
Because the actual work is strenuous, the required training given in nuclear medicine technologist schools is equally exacting to raise the level of competence and proficiency of each student. The equipment operated is complicated and requires mechanical ability and manual dexterity, and technologists are on the feet for long periods of time. Patient care is also part of the job description.
Certificate programs are usually offered to professionals already with experience in other diagnostic imaging fields but who wish to shift to nuclear medicine.
In 2007, average salary was $69,083, but technologists with extensive experience can receive as much as $95,906.
Where to get education
There are radiology tech schools, MRI schools or ultrasound tech schools, but because of the complex equipment used in nuclear medicine, it is mostly universities and colleges with strong medical programs that also offer training programs for nuclear medicine technologists.
The three best nuclear medicine schools in America are:
- University of Tennessee – they offer a year-long certificate program for nuclear medicine technology and clinical training is held at its Medical Center and six other affiliate hospitals.
- Virginia Commonwealth University – they offer a three-year program leading to a bachelor of science degree in clinical radiation sciences. If you already have a certification as a radiology technician or technologist, you may also enroll in their five-semester program for nuclear medicine technology certification.
- Keiser Permanente School of Allied Health Sciences – they offer an 18-month program for nuclear medicine technology that will make students eligible to take the national certification exams.
There are many other nuclear medicine technology schools around the country, each offering programs to produce technologists capable of filling in the growing demand.
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