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Course: Nuclear Medical Technology
You place a patient in line with the beam from a gamma scintillation camera (to record radioactivity) and inject a drug containing a small amount of radioactive material into the patient’s heart. You make a rapid series of images that reveal the drug’s path through the heart, showing problems like narrowed arteries or damaged heart muscle. A physician viewing the images in sequence can actually watch the heart at work and decide on the best treatment for the patient. This medical miracle now takes place daily, thanks to nuclear medical technology.
Nuclear medical technology majors learn to use radiopharmaceuticals (drugs that give off radiation) to diagnose and treat illness. They also learn how to watch over their patients’ health and safety.
Did You Know?
With special training, nuclear medicine technologists can use x-rays to treat cancer.
Are You Ready To...?
- Wear a radiation badge to keep track of your own radiation exposure
- Practice using scanners and Geiger counters to measure blood volume, red blood cell survival, and radiation exposure
- Get hands-on experience in labs and hospitals
- Learn how to run and take care of high-tech equipment
- Solve complex problems in math and physics
It Helps To Be...
Comfortable with complex machinery and calculations, a careful reader, and a close listener. Your work must be accurate and precise because lives depend on it. And you’ll spend a lot of time on your feet, so physical fitness is key.
College Checklist
- Will you earn a certificate, an associate’s degree, or a bachelor’s degree?
- Will you train on the latest equipment?
- Does the major offer training in radiation therapy and other imaging types, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerized tomography (CT), and ultrasound?
Did You Know?
If you train in the military, civilian jobs may be only an exam away.
Course Spotlight
As a student of nuclear medical technology, you’ll learn about an exciting new area of research: radiation biology. While nuclear bombs are powerfully destructive to living things, small amounts of precisely aimed radiation are the best way we have of treating cancer. When you study radiation biology, you’ll explore both the healing and harmful effects of radiation in detail.