Career Choice as a Nuclear Medicine Technologist

Nuclear medicine is a branch of allied health care sciences which deals with the study and practice of administering radio isotopes for the treatment of various diseases and a person professionally trained in the field of Nuclear Medicine Technology (NMT) is called a Nuclear Medicine Technologist.

Career aspirants in this field must have at least a certificate or diploma in NMT to start a career as a Nuclear Medicine Technologist. Those who are interested in faster career advancement and high profile positions must have at least a bachelor degree in NMT.

Short term one-year duration certificate and diploma programs in NMT are conducted at various medical institutions for career-oriented medical professionals such as qualified nurses while two-year duration associate degree and four-year duration bachelor degree programmes are offered at several colleges and universities.

Trained Nuclear Medicine Technologists are employed by hospitals; University medical centers ; clinics and public health centres; private imaging centers; cardiology clinics; cancer research centres; medical diagnostic facilities, private research facilities, public health departments, offices of nuclear physicians and so on.

Major career responsibilities of a Nuclear Medicine Technologist include tasks such as assisting a nuclear physician in the preparation of radio pharmaceuticals; helping the doctor’s team in the administration of the radio isotopes for the needy patients by operating gamma radiation machine; helping the patients to position themselves for the better results of the radiation treatment; counselling the patients about the effectiveness of the treatment; preparing the patients for radiation treatment by ensuring radiation safety and patient’s comfort level; preparing the operation theatre for the radiation treatment by taking measures for radiation safety ; quality maintenance of the equipments and lab used in the process of radiation therapy; accurate documentation of the medical treatment given to the patient; monitoring patient’s response to the treatment and guiding patient’s family for the better care of the patients.