Training Essentials
Familiarization with Routine Exams by Observation
- Develop a list of common exams, give the exam objectives, the anatomical region of interest, and the physiological aspects studied as well as any indices that are calculated.
Regulations and Accreditation
- List and identify the areas of jurisdiction of the various state and federal bodies that regulate the day-to-day practise of nuclear medicine.
- List and identify the accreditation agencies and their jurisdiction for nuclear medicine.
Routine Clinical Responsibilities
- Develop an outline of the daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual responsibilities including the responsibilities governed by the agencies as outlined above.
General Understanding of Essential Equipment
- Scintillation Cameras Identify the main performance characteristics
- Identify the main performance characteristics
- Identify and describe the associated correction schemes
- General collimator specifications
- Dose Calibrator
- Identify the basic principle and construction
- Identify the use and need in day-to-day operations
- Scintillation Detector Probes
- Uses
- Performance characteristics
- Well Counter
- Uses
- Performance characteristics
Routine Performance Checks and Acceptance Testing
- Scintillation Cameras
- Planar operation
- Tomographic operation (single and multiple-head systems)
- Dose Calibrator
- Accuracy
- Linearity
- Constancy
- Volume variation
- Scintillation Probe and Well Counter
- Calibration
- Energy resolution
- Efficiency calibration
Bid Specifications
- Develop bid specification for a scintillation camera and computer (list the differences for a multi-head system).
Patient Dosimetry
- Absorbed doses for common exams
- Sources of information
- Identify the critical organs and target organs
- Fetal dose calculations and estimates
Radiation Shielding and Protection
- Identify the typical use of shielding in nuclear medicine
- Personnel
- General public
- Equipment shielding