r/NuclearMedicine

Hello everyone!
I’ve completed IM residency and don’t find it or any of the subspecialties fulfilling. I had no idea about nuclear medicine until just a few days ago (I don’t know how). It seems so interesting and something that would completely align with what I want. Is it fairly difficult to match? How much research and clinical experience would I need to be a strong candidate?

this is a post for nuclear medicine residency incase there was confusion

I'm interested in nuc med tech but considering the aspect where you are by yourself the majority of the time. Is this your experience? Does that feel too isolating?

Approximate effective doses, and they are far enough apart to change what u order.

Tc-99m sestamibi rest and stress, one day protocol: roughly 8 to 12 mSv
Thallium-201: roughly 15 to 20 mSv, the highest of the common studies, because the photon energy is low and the half life is long
Rubidium-82 PET: roughly 3 to 5 mSv
N-13 ammonia PET: roughly 2 mSv

A stress first strategy, imaging only if the stress images are abnormal, removes the rest injection entirely in the pts who need it least.

Thallium carries the highest dose and gets reserved for the question only it answers, which is viability through redistribution.

I don't know if this sub is right for this post, sorry. So, a little background info: I’m a transfer student from India currently in 11th grade in the US. It’s only been a few months since I came here. Back in India, I wanted to become a computer engineer. However, with AI taking over many IT jobs, everyone is advising me to pursue a career in healthcare. Growing up, I always had an aversion to healthcare jobs, especially as a doctor or nurse. I did some research and found out about nuclear pharmacy. From what I gather, I can study the subjects I genuinely have an interest in such as physics and maths. I guess I’m okay with chemistry but I find biology kinda boring. I know this is a niche field and getting a job is highly competitive, but the money is so good! I have had some exposure to the field mainly because my mother is a pharmacy professor and I would always accompany her during college when I was a toddler.

So, if any nuclear pharmacists are reading this, please tell me what I should expect in this field. Also, if you know any other jobs in healthcare that meet these needs I have please do tell me. ( I apologize for any confusion, as English is not my first language) I also don't know if this sub is right for this post.

Hi all! I’m looking into Radiology and Nuclear Medicine right now and have a question for current practitioners. If you were to lose your job today, how confident are you that you would be able to get an offer for a new position within a week or within a month? The main thing holding me back right now from pursuing nucmed over rad tech is seeing dozens of jobs listed for rad techs for every one or two nucmed jobs posted on the boards I’m looking through.

Do you feel secure in the job market with your degree? How long did it take you to find your first position out of school?

So my major gripe with dental hygiene is the nonstop back to back patient load. Every. Single. Hour. Nonstop. I get the patient at start of the hour, do what I need to do and I always finish around 45-50mins into the hour then have to do the doctors exam and clean up which almost always has me running to get the next patient back about 5 mins late so in always rushing around, no back or neck breaks and back to being bent over tryna clean all these teeth.

My other gripe obviously is the physical strain. I'm okay for now after three years so far, but God knows how my spine will be in 5 years and it already is starting to hurt.

The work can be mindless overall though, not super stressful work but is very time consuming and does require a ton of nonstop focus and meticulous attention. My eyes and head radiate after staring at tiny teeth with bright lights all day.

I would like a job that gives me to spend degree some breathing room and not be running around ragged.

I do love only having a four day work week and never working weekends though.

My questions are:

1. How stressful genuinely is this job? Do you worry or have issues often when starting IVs?

2. I know it definitely can get busy and handling multiple patients at once which in fine to be busy and multitask her and there, but with hygiene its every day of the week nonstop all hours of the day minus my lunch break. There is no time to take a breather and sit for a minute unless I get a cancellation which is rare. How busy really does it get and do you get much down time in an average 8hr shift?

3. What is the work schedule like? I really would prefer to work 4 10s. Is this common in nuc med? Is it feasible? I know weekend shifts depend on outpatient vs inpatient often, but if you do work weekends, what is the frequency of your rotations? How often are you on call for? I don't mind on call maybe 3-4 days a month I guess but how often is realistic would you say?

Thanks for any help!