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Advanced Certificate in Nuclear Medicine Technology

Location: Online
Start Term: Summer

Designed for students located in specific regions of New England and the Northeast who hold an associate’s degree in medical imaging or a bachelor’s degree in any field, this program builds on your previous college studies, teaching you how to safely and compassionately administer radioactive drugs, or radiopharmaceuticals, to patients. This program offers clinical opportunities in select cities throughout New England, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Details about the locations are noted below.

As a student in this program, you'll learn how to obtain rapid-succession images of where radiopharmaceuticals concentrate in the body, giving your medical team insight essential to diagnosing patients. You'll discover the functions of the many organs and tissues found in the human anatomy. And you’ll learn how to treat a variety of medical conditions using targeted radiation.

Over the course of 14 consecutive months, you'll follow a synchronous distance/online class schedule, which means that you will log and call in during specific class times, offering you the flexibility of an online education coupled with the community-building experience associated with classroom learning. Students are required to meet in person approximately twice per semester at predetermined locations (usually one of the MCPHS campuses) for labs and/or other class activities. You'll participate in clinical experiences at sites predetermined by your specific location, where you'll work alongside industry experts and gain firsthand knowledge of what it's like to be a nuclear medicine technologist. And you'll graduate ready to positively impact patients' lives and sit for the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board, as well as the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists.

For admission to the program, an applicant must meet one of the two criteria:

  • Currently registered (or registry-eligible) in the medical imaging or radiologic sciences

OR

  • Baccalaureate degree in any field.

Prerequisite Courses:

Linked courses are available through the MCPHS School of Professional Studies.

The distance/online program is synchronous in terms of the classes. Students are required to meet in person approximately twice per semester at predetermined locations (usually one of the MCPHS campuses) for labs and/or other class activities. This means that students will log and call in during specific class times.

The distance program is offered in the following locations only and with specific clinical sites only:

Connecticut

  • Hartford — Hartford Hospital

Colorado

  • Aurora/Denver — University of Colorado Hospital

Maine

  • Augusta — MaineGeneral Medical Center
  • Bangor — Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center
  • Portland/Scarborough — Maine Medical Center (Portland and Scarborough Campuses)

Massachusetts

  • Boston — Various clinical sites
  • Worcester — Saint Vincent Hospital and UMass Memorial Medical Center
  • Springfield — Baystate Medical Center

New Hampshire

  • Lebanon — Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
  • Manchester — Elliot Hospital
  • Concord — Concord Hospital

Vermont

  • Burlington — University of Vermont Medical Center
COURSE TITLE SEMESTER HOURS

Year I–Summer
NMT 260 Fundamentals of Nuclear Medicine 3
RSC 110 Medical Terminology for Rad Sci.*  1
RSC 250 Elements of Clinical Care  2
TOTAL    6

Year I–Fall
NMT 305 Cardiovascular Imaging  3
NMT 310 Radiation Sciences and Regulations  3
NMT 320 Nuclear Medicine Imaging  6
NMT 330C Nuclear Medicine Internship I 4
TOTAL 16

Year I–Spring
NMT 340 Molecular Imaging & Theranostics  3
NMT 350 Radiopharmacy  3
NMT 331C Nuclear Medicine Internship II  8
NMT 390 Problem Solving in Nuclear Medicine I  2
TOTAL  16

Year II–Summer
NMT 332C Nuclear Medicine  Internship III  7
NMT 391 Problem Solving in Nuclear Medicine II  2
RSC 320 CT and Cross Sectional Anatomy 3
TOTAL  12
Total Credits  50

*Previous Medical Terminology credits can be transferred.

**Students will complete the research proficiency modules (INF110, INF220, INF330) prior to graduation.

Our students learn from faculty who are leaders in their fields and are committed to the success of each student. Discover our full list of Nuclear Medicine Technology faculty. 

The Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) has established the following list of technical standards for the majors of Nuclear Medicine, Radiography, and Radiation Therapy.

These technical standards conform to the professional technical standards required for the safe and ethical practice of the task/skills associated with clinical nuclear medicine, medical nuclear medicine technology, and clinical radiation therapy. Each student, with reasonable accommodation, must be able to demonstrate that he/she is able to:

  • Reach and manipulate equipment to its highest position (6 feet).
  • Communicate in a clear and concise manner with patients of all ages, including obtaining health history and pertinent information.
  • Read and apply appropriate instructions contained in requisitions, notes, and patient charts.
  • Transfer patients from wheelchairs and stretchers and help them on/off treatment table.
  • Exert force and lift objects of 50 pounds routinely.
  • Perform simple motor skills for unrestricted time periods.
  • Push, pull, bend and stoop.
  • Work standing on their feet 80% of the time.
  • Reach and work overhead.
  • Move a standard wheelchair and/or stretcher from a waiting area to a treatment area.
  • Understand and apply clinical instructions given by department personnel.
  • Visually monitor patients/charts/machine indicator lights in dimly lit conditions.
  • Detect audible alarms and background sounds during procedures to ensure patient/staff safety.
  • Demonstrate manual dexterity to perform necessary manipulations such as drawing doses with a syringe, manipulating locks, putting on surgical gloves.
  • Endure an eight-hour day with a minimum of four to six hours of standing or walking.
  • Endure a minimum of two hours of didactic instructions in a classroom environment.

 

 

Faculty Profile

MCPHS faculty member David Gilmore

MCPHS Director and Associate Professor of NMT David Gilmore spearheads the restructuring of the nuclear medicine technology curriculum for the country.

Read More