High School Diploma or GED

Complete a formal nuclear medicine training program

Pass exams

May work part time or full time. Most work full time.

May work days, evenings, or weekends

NUCLEAR MEDICINE TECHNOLOGISTS will:

Give patients radioactive drugs or radiation treatments

NUCLEAR MEDICINE TECHNOLOGISTS frequently:

Are often exposed to radiation

Before they give patients the drugs, technologists explain the procedure. Using a computer, they calculate how much radiation or radioactive drug the treatment will require. They prepare the proper dosage and give it to the patient by mouth, injection, or other means.

It is important that NUCLEAR MEDICINE TECHNOLOGISTS be able to: use cameras that detect radioactive drugs as they move through patients' bodies