HOW TO GET THERE
Typical pathway
A common path is to finish secondary school with courses in biology, chemistry, physics, math and computers, and then enter a college or hospital-based medical radiation technology program with a nuclear medicine focus, where available. Students usually complete classroom learning and supervised clinical practice in patient care, imaging equipment, radiopharmaceutical handling and radiation safety. Some people begin in a related medical radiation technology stream and specialize later, depending on the school or province. After graduation, early jobs often involve working under supervision and building hands-on experience in hospitals or clinics.
THE WORK
What you may do
Legacy duties
- Prepare radiopharmaceuticals, such as radionuclides and other materials and administer them to patients or to biological samples
- Operate radiation detection equipment, such as gamma cameras, scanners, scintillation counters, tomodensitometers and ionization chambers, to acquire data for use by nuclear medicine physicians in the diagnosis of disease
- Perform diagnostic procedures using radioactive materials on biological specimens, such as blood, urine and faeces
- Record and process results of procedures
- Check equipment to ensure proper operation
- Provide appropriate care for the patient during the examination
- Apply radiation protection measures
- May train and supervise student nuclear medicine technologists or supervise other nuclear medicine technologists.
SKILLS TO BUILD
Skills used in this Career
Business ProceduresInterpersonal skillsMultidisciplinary teamwork