The Manhattan College Program In Nuclear Medicine Technology
Manhattan College offers a Bachelor of Science degree and a Certificate Program providing training in the field of Nuclear Medicine Technology.
Nuclear Medicine is a commonly used medical specialty employed in hospitals to help doctors diagnose and treat various diseases. A safe and benign radioactive material called a radiopharmaceutical is injected into a patient, travels through the bloodstream, and collects in a specific organ. An image of the organ caused by the presence of the radiopharmaceutical is obtained on an instrument called a gamma camera.
A nuclear medicine technologist is responsible for the performance of the organ imaging procedures for the obtaining of diagnostic results. Their duties include preparing the radiopharmaceutical and performing quality control tests on them, giving the injection (if it is allowed by law in the state in which the technologist is working), observing radiation safety and protection procedures, performing quality control tests on the imaging instrumentation and computers, preparing the patient and imaging instrumentation for the specific imaging procedure, positioning the patient during the procedure, computer processing the acquired data to enhance image quality and quantitate the information, and presenting the results to the doctor for diagnosis. The technologist also becomes involved with nonimaging and therapeutic procedures in nuclear medicine.
Nuclear Medicine is an exciting, dynamic field which has grown over the past few years. There is a tremendous demand for nuclear medicine technologists. It is estimated this demand will continue at an increasing rate over the next 10 years as the baby-boom generation enters retirement. Therefore, there is, and will continue to be a need for this type of highly skilled and qualified personnel. It is a very stimulating, rewarding and satisfying profession.
Salaries in this field are excellent! Entry-level nuclear medicine technologists can expect to earn between $45,000 to $65,000 a year. Graduates of the program are initially employed as staff technologists in departments of nuclear medicine in hospitals or private radiological offices.
The Nuclear Medicine Technology program at Manhattan College is affiliated with 14 hospitals/medical centers in the New York City metropolitan area including:
- Bronx V.A. Medical Center
- Danbury Hospital
- Lenox Hill Hospital
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
- Mount Sinai Medical Center
- New York Presbyterian-Columbia Medical Center
- New York Presbyterian-Cornell Medical Center
- New York University Medical Center
- North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System at Manhasset
- North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System at Glen Cove
- Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center
- St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center
- St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center
- Westchester Medical Center
Students enrolled in the program take 10 credits of Clinical Internship courses, amounting to about 185 days in a nuclear medicine department of one of these hospitals. It is during the internship courses that the student receives hands-on experience and achieves competency as a nuclear medicine technologist.
The Bachelor of Science degree includes a 21 credit Health Care Administration concentration. This concentration has been designed to expand the role and provide a career ladder for nuclear medicine technologists into radiological department administration, sales, or technical representation in the nuclear medicine industry.
The Bachelor of Science degree also supplies graduates with the potential to enter graduate programs in hospital administration, public administration, business administration or public health.
The Certificate Program, which is fifteen months in length, is an option for students who already possess a Bachelor’s degree and have completed the following prerequisite courses: English 6 Credits, Computer Science 3 Credits, Human Anatomy and Physiology 6 Credits, Pre-Calculus 3 Credits, Chemistry 3 Credits, Statistics 3 Credits, Physics 8 Credits.
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