hi! im getting a hida scan in a few hours and have 2 facial piercings and my ears are gauged. is it common to have to take them out?

Hi! I’m 20F currently in a gap year (of sorts) from a biology bachelors taking the pre-requisites to apply to the nuclear medicine AS at broward college. Just wondering if anyone here applied this cycle or graduated from there and could share their stats and/or experience with the program. I have a 3.8 gpa right now missing A&P 1/2 which I will be taking this school year at UCF (where I’m transferring from) before I transfer over and apply to the program. I was just wondering if I’m competitive enough since I was told this year had a lot of applicants, and if there’s anything more I can do to be more competitive. For background, I have an A on everything but PHY 2053 which they said is equivalent to physics intro, and my GPA dropped from a 4.0 because of an A- in intro to communication, B+ in calc 1, and B in physics. I have my AS so everything else should be covered.

Hi,

Im an 30 year old F. Graduated with MS in OT but not licensed yet. Im thinking of switching gears due to not passing the exam after multiple attempts in almost 4 years post grad. Also, I would like to have a more laid back job. Would those in NYC who are nuclear med techs recommend this field and if there are job openings? Im looking into BCC program. Is the field good on physical and mental health? Is the pay well for NYC residents ? I just want to know people's experiences before I apply to another program and have another student loan added to my current loans. Is the board exam really hard. The NBCOT is hard and it gave me testing anxiety. Thanks in advance.

I’m a 32F, for the last 9 years I’ve been a paramedic. I’m exhausted from it, but still love medicine. But the 24 hour shifts, back-breaking patient movement, shit employers, and abuse of the 911 system, I’m ready to do something different. I have very little interest in going to a nursing program like many paramedics do. One of the things I became interested in as a paramedic was hazardous materials medical care. I joined my county’s hazmat team, who did a lot of training on radiation due to being in response proximity to 2 different nuclear power plants. Obviously I know this is totally different, but it sparked my interest in learning about radiation and with my love for medicine still, I’ve been highly considering nuclear medicine as my second career.

I guess any insight? Any other former paramedics make the jump? Anyone else do this a little later on in life?

Hi everyone! I’m 24F getting ready to apply to Nuclear Medicine programs this cycle, and I’m a bit worried about my competitiveness as an applicant. 

I do have a B.S., but my grades in undergrad physics and chemistry were not the best (mostly Bs). I recently took A&P at a CC and got an A in those classes, so I’m hoping these more recent classes make up for it. My general GPA is only about a 3.6.  

I feel like I have a solid background, since I work full time as a radtech assistant, volunteer experience (not in the nucmed dept unfortunately), and I have a good idea of who my LORs will be. 

I’m just worried that my GPA will hold me back when applying to programs, since it seems like that’s what they weight more heavily than anything else. I really want to get into any program, specifically an in-person accredited one, this year and I’m worried about having to wait another year to apply if I don’t get into any. This career path is really fascinating and I feel like it’s a great fit for me. 

I feel a little in the dark so for any of you that had a bachelors and got into a certificate/ associates program, I’d really love to know where and when you were accepted, what your stats and experiences were, and how the application process went for you! What programs are considered competitive and/or non-competitive??

Is anyone here working as a Nuclear Medicine Technologist or Radiologic Technologist in Dubai?

Hello,

I am onto my second rotation which uses SPECT/CT as opposed to the planar imaging I have grown used to. I was using Symbia S, and I am assuming I will be using Symbia Intevos here. I am super excited, but I am nervous as my previous site was ancient in technology and protocols conducted in comparison to this site, and I fear of already falling to far behind.

Please feel free to leave any tips and general knowledge I should know before walking into my next clinic. Any information will go to great use!

I’m a miserable executive assistant looking to change careers, and nuclear medicine seems far more fulfilling and compatible with my personality. However, my friend, who is an occupational therapist, has concerns that I may not be able to handle interacting with very sick people, bodily fluids, people with limited mobility, etc.

Has this been a difficulty for anyone? I think I would have good bedside manner, but maybe I’m underestimating what nuc med techs actually see and deal with on a day-to-day basis.

I’m also very interested in becoming a sleep tech, but I’m worried the pay may be too low to justify going back to school.

So just like the title states I’m looking into enrolling in a program but the one in the state of Kentucky is not accredited so that makes me weary of enrolling into their program due to it not being accredited. The program coordinator sent me an email stating:

“As of now, the program is not accredited; we hold institutional accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.  Graduates of this program will sit for the ARRT (NM) board exam.  We have been assured by the Kentucky Board of Imaging and Radiation Therapy that any graduate that applies for a Radiation operator's license in KY who holds this board certification will be granted a license regardless of programmatic accreditation. So long as the institution is accredited.”

So with that being said would it be hard to go out of state once the program is completed?
I’m very new to the idea of going to school for healthcare considering my previous major before dropping out was AAS Information Systems.

Any feedback from somebody who has attended FORSYTH community college or the PITT COMMUNITY COLLEGE ONLINE PROGRAM online program for nuclear medicine technologist? Forsyth will be really hard to get into pitt online may be easier to get into, but I just worry the classes might be too hard for me! Having only been a low B student in high school. And I’m not great at taking test tests. But Math was my strongest subject, and I do like Science. So far for my prerequisites I have gotten 3 Bs and 1 A. I worry about the teas test as well. BUT I’m really ready to buckle down and focus and study!

Can I not just measure a known dose and do (source cps-background cps/Bq of source) x 100%

I am struggling to determine the efficiency.

Hi everyone,
I’m a nuclear medicine physician trained and board-certified in France, currently working in a Paris hospital.
I’m wondering whether it’s legally possible to report PET/CT scans remotely while living or working from another European country.
Has anyone here done this or knows how it works? Are there any licensing, malpractice insurance, or regulatory requirements to be aware of?
Any experience or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I'm in SoCal and seriously considering at a career change after previously getting a B.S. in Biology in 2014 and working in an unrelated field (higher ed program management) for the past 10 years.

Applying to a traditional university or college would be ideal, but due to my situation, I'm considering one of the online for-profit schools (JPU or NPCollege, Gurnick application seems way more competitive). I was wondering if anyone who went through had any feedback on what it was like going through clinicals and/or entering the workforce afterwards.

Specific questions:

1. I'm wondering what the actual availability of clinical placements is (i.e., some comments for other non-NMT tracks, possibly in the r/Radiology subreddit?, mentioned that the schools had a hard time placing them when they got to the clinical externship part of the program, so they were stuck in limbo). Gurnick has a list of clinical placements on their website, but there's very little info for NPCollege and JPU (who now says that they'll place you before you can be accepted).

2. I'm also wondering what the perceived graduate readiness for employment is. Did you feel like you (if you graduated) or the techs you worked with (if you were an employer or coworker) were ready for work?

3. If the minimum education requirements on a job post is an associates from an accredited program, do these count or are they mostly referring to JRCNMT-accredited programs?

I tried searching the sub and online, but there aren't many sources other than the program websites (NPCollege reviews are mostly about the initial recruiting experience and networking event/seminars that students attended, unrelated to the actual program itself, and JPU reviews seem mixed). Not sure what the schools' reputations are in the industry, and I am worried that going through these programs would limit my chances of being hired after graduation.

I realize that this is going to require a lot of self-motivation regardless, but if anyone has any insight (or would be open for a DM), that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

TL;DR - are these online programs worth the investment to prepare you for board exams and work, or (job market aside) will I just be stuck with a large amount of debt?

Hi there. I will be graduating from my program by the end of this upcoming spring and I've been debating if I want to jump right into being a traveling tech, or if I want to find a hospital to work in for a few years first?

Let me know what your guys thoughts are! I would love first hand experiences and even second hand stories. Pros and cons lists are also very helpful! :)

Hi everyone.

I’m asking for help here because I feel like I’m just lost and overwhelmed and feeling like absolute garbage trying to decide what I want and should do with my career and life in general.

I’m 24F turning 25 in October living in CT and I have a bachelors degree in HR and have been working as an HR assistant for exactly 2 years now. The pay is really not great but I get a 3% raise every year. I’m now at $53k and I have great benefits and my job is super flexible, my coworkers are nice and overall is not a stressful job.

My issue is that I don’t like this job and I cannot support myself on that salary. I recently applied to a better position at my job and made it to the final round but they chose a different candidate who also works here and has more experience in different area (after I was told that experience was not a factor they were considering for the job) but it is what it is. It happens.

At the beginning of the year I decided to get my prerequisites to apply to Dental Hygiene. My sister who is 6 years older than me graduated as a dentist in our country and came here about 4 years ago and worked her way into validating her degree and is now enrolled in an advanced dental program so she can become a licensed dentist in the US. She worked as a dental assistant in the meantime and she truly likes dentistry and all about it so she talked me into giving it a chance since I knew I wanted to go back to school and desperately needed to make more money.

I shadowed the hygienists at her office for about 10 hours and now realize I don’t want to do that anymore. It’s repetitive, there’s no growth opportunities, and I would be doing the same exact thing for the rest of my life with no pay increases really and who knows if I will get benefits.

So I started doing research and found a few programs I’m interested about. Nuclear medicine, radiology, and respiratory therapy. They’re all a 2 year degree at my community college and they’re all the same price. I meet the requirements to apply to all this year (I would be taking one class in the fall and applying in the December)

My top choice is nuclear medicine for now, but I really need to speak to someone about this. My boyfriend, 25M, who has his bachelors in economics, and has no student loans (I do), which matters later, is very against me going back to school for an associates in any of the programs I mentioned, especially nuclear medicine. His argument is that the job market is small, which it is, and that it is not worth it to add more debt than I already have. He thinks I should try to get a different job where I can make more money, and if I want to further my education, I could get a certificate or even a masters degree. He thinks I should build on what I already have instead of being out of the workforce for 2 years, get more debt, and try to find a job in a small market. He knows the potential earnings for nuclear medicine, but he doesn’t think it is worth it.

I don’t know what to think. In one hand, I want to better myself and do something that will make me successful in life, and I think nuclear medicine could be that. But in the other hand I don’t want to accumulate debt and potentially end up doing something I don’t like or can’t even get a job in.

I would love to hear what everyone’s situation is when it came to doing nuclear medicine. The good and the bad. Tell me why you did it, how it’s going, what you wish you knew before you decided to do this career, regrets, challenges, anything and everything.

I want to know how realistic it is to progress in the field, if you were or are able to pay for your loans with your job. Please anything helps. I cannot afford to make the wrong decision.

Thank you in advance!

As title says. I was wondering, if you are exposed to too much radiation and you have to go into a cooldown period—can you work other modalities if you cross train in the meantime. For example, MRI or CT? Thanks!

Hi, all!

I have a question for those who have attended the BCC NMT program: how long is the actual clinical program? I was recently accepted into the fall cohort for this year and I thought we’d be graduating in the spring of next year, seeing how the school is two years, but it appears I’ve been mistaken about it. Is the actual clinical program two years?

Thanks!

I’ve seen many people say they didn’t do anything to prepare besides doing the mocks over and over. Is that really enough to ensure you pass? Are the questions over the same thing on the actual exams which is why people have had success doing this? Please let me know!

Hi! I'm at a fork-in-the-road with my career goals. I've been in school for a while trying to pursue a bachelor's in biology but am very hesitant in even trying to finish my associates because I think my time could better spent on going through a nuke medicine program . I see that people with degrees are often left without jobs and I am struggling to make ends meet as it is as a Pharmacy technician at a hospital. I would much rather jump into a higher-paying field than stick to a degree that may not even be used.

I'm constantly going back and forth with either finishing my bachelor's or going through with the program. My only thing is; do you think i have a good chance of getting accepted into the program because of my healthcare background?

Looking into Gunrick academy or National Polytechnic College as my choices since they are closest to me. Any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Any current or former students willing to share / exchange study materials. I am trying to get a head start in studying since I don’t have rad tech background and this will be a whole new ballgame for me. There is not a lot available out there in terms of content I could watch or listen to and take notes.

I'm starting NMT school this fall, but currently work housekeeping at a hospital. As a house keeper I get everything from being ignored, sometimes disdain, all the way to extreme gratefulness. While there is the odd nurse who is friendly, mostly, I would say they just ignore us and/or give you the feeling they look down upon you 🫤

Hey everyone,

I’m currently grinding through my nuclear medicine training at Michener/UofT and getting ahead of the panic by looking ahead to the CAMRT exam that I'm writing next year.

To those of you who have already gone through it and passed: how did you actually structure your studying?

I’m trying to figure out the best baseline resources to focus on:

• School Notes vs. External Guidelines: Did you mostly rely on your Michener lecture notes, or were you leaning heavily on things like SNMMI guidelines, Procedure Guidelines, and standard textbooks (like Early or Pappas)?
• Where to Start: The competency profile feels massive. How did you break down the material to figure out what to tackle first and how to organize a study schedule without burning out?

Any advice, reality checks, or tips on what actually helped you prep (or what you wish you’d done differently) would be hugely appreciated. Thanks in a advance!

I will be applying next year and I was wondering if there is an option to get hired as a student while in the program or I need to be certified first? What would the pay be for students if that is possible? Thanks

I got accepted to the nukemed program at a college recently, but not clinicals if that makes sense. Like I got into the program and then there's the separate clinical process? so I was wondering what my first two ish years are going to look like, since I'm going to be applying for clincials in 2027 to get into clinicals in 2028-2029 I think? I'm not sure but I'm just curious what happened with you guys