Nuclear Medicine Technologist Jobs

NuclearP,

Thank you for being honest about the true state of this profession. Although people like you are rare when it comes to nuc med instructors.

Jan 2015, really? That's the best these pathetic and greedy parasites can do? And I doubt even that will have a significant impact on the job market. Unfortunately, we nuc med techs will be suffering for a long time...

jolo in Alexandria, Virginia said: Hello! I was laid off January 2010 from a job I had for three years. It took me over a year to get a PRN position with the same place I got laid off from. I really do love working at this hospital. I am CNMT, ARRT(N), PET, BS. I have been working for 8 years. I would not be able to relocate. There is literally nothing available in my area. One word of caution for those using staffing/recruiting, do not use Maxim Staffing Solutions. Especially the office in Silver Spring, MD. I just had a lousy experience and unprofessional experience with a recruiter I had been in contact occasionally over the last year and a half. It would be really nice to see nuclear medicine technology jobs to reemerge again. It is really quite disappointing.

I was set up to do an interview with them and they never got back with me. Very disapointing. I was laid off in 2010 and have over 400 resumes out there. I feel your pain. Keep your chin up. Best of Luck.

Jenny in Richmond Hill, Ontario said: NuclearP,

Thank you for being honest about the true state of this profession. Although people like you are rare when it comes to nuc med instructors.

Jan 2015, really? That's the best these pathetic and greedy parasites can do? And I doubt even that will have a significant impact on the job market. Unfortunately, we nuc med techs will be suffering for a long time...

Originally it was supposed to be 2012- but many of the programs (Not just nuclear- but radiology programs especially) could not get things changed that "quickly". Most (if not all) of everyone's complaints on this forum are just examples of a very broken academic system in the U.S. Unfortunately I think we as NMTs are particularly "screwed" as we also are dealing with a broken health care system and an industry that has put band-aids on hemmorhages for a long time.

I agree with you- it will take a while before things turn around...

Folks, if you have not read the article in this link, please do so: www.medscape.com/viewarticle/755051?src=mp&spon=17

It is about nurses, new grads in the same position as many new grads NMTs.

NuclearP in Michigan said: Hi All:
I am a program director and I just wanted to let you know that not all of us are out for ourselves. I am honest with my students as to what the job market is like. ...
Some of you may not know that the ARRT is requiring graduates to have at least a 2 year degree and must graduate from an accredited school as of Jan 2015. The NMTCB is also requiring that students graduate from an accredited school. So this means that in the next 3 years any graduates from non-accredited programs will not be able to take either board exam. Perhaps some these schools will go away as a result of this.

The NMTCB will not begin requiring students to graduate from an accredited school until January 2016.

Sadly, that's far away and not nearly enough. Even if the only people who can take the exam are graduates from an accredited school (4 years from now), that still leaves about 130 accredited schools in the U.S. That is a lot of schools for a field as small as nuc med.

Solley in Chicago said: Folks, if you have not read the article in this link, please do so: www.medscape.com/viewarticle/755051?src=mp&spon=17

It is about nurses, new grads in the same position as many new grads NMTs.

I haven't read it yet, but will in a few minutes.

I know that nurses are having a hard time because of the importing of foreign nurses. Here in Dallas there is a hospital with a recruiting office in India. They hire nurses from there with B.S. degrees to maintain their "magnate" status. Nurses with B.S. degrees from other countries will work for less money. That's another serious issue: granting too many visas to people from other countries when plenty of people who already live here are looking for work.

I was both an employee and patient at the hospital and can tell you that a lack of English proficiency is a big problem. As a tech, I had a hard time calling the floor for more info about a patient. As a patient, I had to have the nurse write down a word for me so I could understand her. Another nurse didn't understand the written instructions about my meds and almost gave them to me in the wrong order. Fortunately, my doctor had told me the correct order and I educated the nurse about it.

Health care is messed up for a variety of reasons. Everyone who works in it is paying the price.

Healthcare is truly screwed up.
unfortunately for me and others.. it's very fiscally driven.

I went into NM a dozen years ago and truly enjoyed has now gone to hell in the proverbial hand basket.
company i was with downsized and left me looking at a virtual zero market.
55 years old.. and experience mostly in cardiology.
but all they want to hire is a pulse with a state license and certification as cheap as they can get away with.

would love to get back into it. working in NM was something that I enjoyed doing every day.
you would think Dallas area with it's size would help.

I miss my profession.

Solley in Chicago said: Folks, if you have not read the article in this link, please do so: www.medscape.com/viewarticle/755051?src=mp&spon=17

It is about nurses, new grads in the same position as many new grads NMTs.

Interesting article. It seems new grads can't get jobs because they lack experience. They can't get exerience because they can't get hired.

It was also interesting that there are some opportunities to break into the field, but some new grads think those opportunities are beneath them.

Health care used to be such a great field to be in: good pay, decent benefits, job opportunities, etc. Now, that's sure changed. The problem is that so many things in so many areas contribute to the problem. No single fix will straighten it all out. Medicare/medicaid only pay a fraction of what procedures really cost. We import too many foreign workers. The overregulation and uncertainties in the economy are preventing most people from starting new ventures of any kind. Nobody really knows just how much Obama's health care plan is going to cost.

I guess this situation has been coming for a long time. Everything has finally hit the fan and if we're lucky, we'll be able to fix it, but it will be quite a while.

Solley in Chicago said: Folks, if you have not read the article in this link, please do so: www.medscape.com/viewarticle/755051?src=mp&spon=17

It is about nurses, new grads in the same position as many new grads NMTs.

Read the article - not surprised. Healthcare has a nice little employment business model gem set with the colleges - enormous supply = cheap labor

Prospective students don't end up on the Kubler-Ross Model post graduation (Denial,Anger,Bargaining,Depression,Acceptance)...do yourself a favor and research your chosen career paths to avoid these educational traps..

PBS also had a special on this topic, I think it was called "College Incorporated"

I too, have fallen "prey" to the education TRAP!!!
Yeah, the instructor covered their ass by saying the job market was "tough."
We all know that is a MAJOR UNDERSTATEMENT !!!
When I read the government hype about the field growing at a 19% rate annually, I felt sure that I wouldn't have too much trouble finding a position locally.
WRONG!!!

All the sites that I did clinicals at were full at the time but have since had openings for PRN and FT come available.
Got interviews...
Like a courtesy more than a "real" consideration...
Haven't gotten any of the positions as of yet...

Last one had two of my professional references on my resume that worked there, love them both dearly. Had met the manager at another function, Had good rapport with him, too. We exchanged contact information and he took a genuine interest in my employment, or so I thought. When the position became available, he suddenly stopped returning my calls.
Like I no longer existed or something ???
W T H???
Wish I had found this forum, and others...
BEFORE I GOT TRAPPED!!!
TO ALL THE INSTRUCTORS HERE:
If you have any Christian VALUES or MORALS whatsoever...
STOP...I REPEAT...STOP accepting and graduating NM students !!! You know the reasons why.
ADMIT IT!!! It is irrelevant how "bright" they are !!!
Quite the contrary, if you accept these "bright" students, you are doing them a disservice.

At 53 years old I was excited to gain a "career" instead of a "job" and now have OVER $32,000.00 in student loans that are currently in deferment or forbearance with little hope of getting a NMT position.

ANY NM instructor that continues accepting students and graduating NM techs, with the state of the field dying out as it is, is being dishonest. No amount of "puffering" is acceptable when these "bright students" are making life decisions of this magnitude, period.

I know these are harsh words.
Much like the reality of the current NMT job market.
Lets not beat around the bush any longer. The NM field doesn't need ANY more techs for a long, long time!!!

Dear Fellow Nuc Med Techs:

I am emerging from a very dark period in my life which started a year-and-a-half ago when I was forced to resign my Nuc Med Tech position of 6 years due to harassment from management. In order to keep my job, I was being asked to sign a form which stated:

1. That I needed to be a part of the culture: When I asked what this meant, I was told that I didn't party with my coworkers.
2. That I would no longer be allowed to do the camera quality control before the first patient of the day. I was told that this could be done anytime during the day.

There were other "conditions" of employment as well. When my manager handed me the ultimatum she said "I know because of your morals, that you won't be able to sign this." I handed it back to her unsigned. This ended my 16 year run as a Nuc Med Tech.

After several months of not finding work, I took a part time job at Walmart and eventually got hired on there full time nights. After several more months, I completed CNA training and have worked at a nursing home for several months.

Finally, I have been blessed with a full-time Nuc Med job in South Dakota that is to start the end of February. I am not as happy as I could be about this, because my family will have to stay in Wisconsin for a while...so there will be trials still.

But after all I've been through, I still have hope that things will work out. I read about a lab test some scientists did where there were two groups of rats. One group was thrown into a vat of water and the lid closed tight so that no light could get in. The other group was thrown into a vat of water and the lid put on also, but a small pin hole of light was allowed to enter. After the given time, the containers were opened. The rats that had been kept in the dark were dead. The ones that were allowed to see just a pinhole of light, kept swimming after the hope of reaching safety.

Keep Swimming friends, and look for the Light!

Earl,

Good for you in securing employment.

That said, your odds were no doubt enhanced by your 6 yrs of clinical work experience - a highly important factor in this bleak market. Fresh graduates do NOT have that, & yet the lie that "moving" or just "keep hanging in there" (for however long - yrs?) will somehow land them a slot is just more of the same old lie.

There has been NO leadership in this field with regard to the BIG PICTURE on employment & the long-term outlook in NM. No one cares. It was & has been all about the "next big thing" in clinical studies/trials/whatnot, with no regard for the business side of the equation.

No one ever cared to think that controlling cost should be part of the management eq. Just expand, Expand, EXPAND... I've watched this phenomenon go on for yrs in medicine. No one ever really considered keeping things in check so it didn't get out of control.

A payment system that shields the consumer/patient from the cost of the product/service only encourages demand w/o regard for supply. It's been that way in medicine, & it's happening in education also. With easy student loans, we see here that demand (for NMT cert degrees) is rising even as supply (ie. NM job market) dwindles.

We aren't learning from our own history. Never the less, what goes around comes around...

I've been looking for a nuc med job for about 18 months. 3 yrs & 5 days ago I was laid off from a job I loved. I got a part-time job 3 weeks later with no benefits except it was close to home. The management of the practice was all messed up (too complicated to post on here), and to be honest I was afraid a patient would die because of the stressing situation. I also inherited a mess where the previous tech had done no paperwork, no QA in the hot lab, no QC on the camera for two years. AND they wanted me to get the lab ready for ICANL accreditation.

5 months later I took a job in the inner city to teach Health Occupations. The part-time job dwindled down to two days a week after that so I probably make more money teaching than I would if I'd stayed. My replacement lasted 5 months too. I now teach at a school closer to home but I'm not sure teaching is for me. Even with summers off I probably still work more hours than I did in nuc med and for half the money.

I really can't afford to quit teaching for anything less than 3 days a week. I've applied for PRN jobs thinking I could take call or fill in for vacations during the summer, but they only want people who can work at any time at the drop of a hat. There are enough unemployed CNMTs around here that they can do that.

I have 20 years of experience in general and cardiac.

I should've gotten my ultrasound certification while I had the chance but I didn't think I'd ever need it again. I went to CNA school later but I haven't used it because I work too hard teaching.

I'm not willing to relocate because my husband has a decent job here and I wouldn't ask him to give that up in this economy. Besides we have a son who is a junior in high school and I don't want him to have to move. All our family is within 25 miles of us.
I'm willing to drive up to 50 miles one way though.

I haven't had a single interview. I've applied for 3 or 4 full-time jobs and several PRN positions.

I've been looking for a nuc med job for about 18 months. 3 yrs & 5 days ago I was laid off from a job I loved. I got a part-time job 3 weeks later with no benefits except it was close to home. The management of the practice was all messed up (too complicated to post on here), and to be honest I was afraid a patient would die because of the stressing situation. I also inherited a mess where the previous tech had done no paperwork, no QA in the hot lab, no QC on the camera for two years. AND they wanted me to get the lab ready for ICANL accreditation.

5 months later I took a job in the inner city to teach Health Occupations. The part-time job dwindled down to two days a week after that so I probably make more money teaching than I would if I'd stayed. My replacement lasted 5 months too. I now teach at a school closer to home but I'm not sure teaching is for me. Even with summers off I probably still work more hours than I did in nuc med and for half the money.

I really can't afford to quit teaching for anything less than 3 days a week. I've applied for PRN jobs thinking I could take call or fill in for vacations during the summer, but they only want people who can work at any time at the drop of a hat. There are enough unemployed CNMTs around here that they can do that.

I have 20 years of experience in general and cardiac.

I should've gotten my ultrasound certification while I had the chance but I didn't think I'd ever need it again. I went to CNA school later but I haven't used it because I work too hard teaching.

I'm not willing to relocate because my husband has a decent job here and I wouldn't ask him to give that up in this economy. Besides we have a son who is a junior in high school and I don't want him to have to move. All our family is within 25 miles of us.
I'm willing to drive up to 50 miles one way though.

I haven't had a single interview. I've applied for 3 or 4 full-time jobs and several PRN positions.

NEMOURS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL IN ORLANDO JUST POSTED A FULL-TIME POSITION FOR NUCLEAR MEDICINE TECHNOLOGIST!!!!!!!

GOOD LUCK FELLOW TECHS!!!

JUDY in Port Saint Lucie, Florida said: NEMOURS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL IN ORLANDO JUST POSTED A FULL-TIME POSITION FOR NUCLEAR MEDICINE TECHNOLOGIST!!!!!!!

GOOD LUCK FELLOW TECHS!!!

Looks like the job shortage is over. Back to work everyone... :/

I am currently in school for NMT, soon to start clinicals. In my region to get accepted into clinicals you pretty much need to have a 4.0 grade average. The clinical program takes students from about 5 different schools, and the program excepts maybe 12 students a year, and takes a year to complete after earning your AS degree. I was expecting to get a job as soon as I was done clinicals, however this site has opened my eyes to the reality of the job market out there. NM seems fascinates me, and I've wanted nothing more than to get in the field, but if there are no jobs then what's the point. After you become a NMT, how hard is it to become certified in CT, or MRI or both? How is the field for Diagnostic Medical Sonographer?

Once you become certified and if you are registered with the ARRT you can get certified in CT through your hospital or a hospital in roughly another year. You have to complete the requirements in competency. I am planning on doing this. I have been in nuc med for almost 9 yrs. I am not sure about MRI but from what I am heard it is pretty easy to do that too. Hope this gives you some ideas. Take it easy and keep your head up. I am without a full time job and only do PRN after I was laid off in 2010.

I was thinking about going into this field but after reading this, I will reconsider. I have a business degree that is also useless. If you all were to start all over (like I am), what field would you go into? I am not interested in nursing or EMT. Thanks!

When you figure something out, please share with the rest of us!

The specialty field of Molecular Cardiology using integrated hybrid imaging system such as PET/CT or Biomolecular MR would be a good area to concentrate your education. Only the technologist who have multiple registries will endure this economy. Good luck to you!

The PET/CT Training Institute,Inc. said: The specialty field of Molecular Cardiology using integrated hybrid imaging system such as PET/CT or Biomolecular MR would be a good area to concentrate your education. Only the technologist who have multiple registries will endure this economy. Good luck to you!

Beware of sales pitches.

I highly (I mean, HIGHLY) recommend cross-training in as many specialties as possible, whether it means going back to school or taking advantage of every opportunity available to you in a job or training situation. The more you know how to do the more valuable you will be.

the phrase "jack of all trades master of zero" comes to mind

I lost my job in Nuc Med over 2 years now with over 40 years of experience and no where to go. I am crossed trained in Xray and I am also an LPN. Trust me there are no jobs. This is such a shame and I so feel sorry for the young Technicians trying to make a living in a field that was a good paying field. The only thing that saved me was to take my social security early at a huge loss of what i could have made if I made it to 65 but I made it to 60.I dont know what to tell you to go into really when i was laid off the Xrays techs were suffering also and being sent home early and called off. Seems like the only field really doing well is the ultrasound and the CT department.

daddyo, I think that too, but, I'm just trying to advise students who want to find a job. I think if they're dedicated and serious enough, they'll master the necessary knowledge in time.

Sandiki, I'm sorry about your job. In my area ultrasound and CT are in pretty high demand but I have heard that in some areas ultrasound is as bad off as we are.

Several nuc jobs have popped up in my area in the past couple of weeks. Of course, this week we go back to school... naturally! Oh, well. Hopefully this upturn will ultimately result in more PRN work so I can get back into the field next summer or even sooner.

Dear
Firstly, I want to thank you to offer this opportunity to talk about our pain. I had graduate as nuclear medicine technologist in 2010 from Unisa until now I am still looking for job anywhere in Australia.i am going to answer the questions:
1. How long have you been looking for a NMT job? More than two years.

2. What type of NMT job-FT, PT, PRN? FT-PT-PRN any Voluntary and Unpaid PDY any chance to work.
3. How much experience do you have? Around year.
4. Do you have any additional certifications such as RT, CT, PET, etc.? How to have if no one gives me any chance to work.
5. Are you willing to relocate? If so have you had any luck getting interviews out of state? Yes.
Unfortunately, I think most of us choice wrong course.

Also Government does not care about our problems.

Naythan

Thank you for all your advice. Would anyone know if there are a decent amount of openings as a radiologist, x-ray technician, speech language pathologist, or as a digital sonographer in the U.S.? Should I skip the health care field altogether?

Would it also be acceptable for a man to be a digital sonographer?

That's the problem with being from PA. There are no schools for MRI or CT. You have to be already working as some sort of tech either Rad or Nuc and be cross trained. Also, everyone wants to come to PA to work because there are no additional certs needed for Nuc Med to work in this state. People go to other schools in other states which require multiple certs, then get hired in PA because none of the graduates from PA have any additional certs and the employers can just pick and choose and why not hire people with more credentials? This is the economy that we live in. You get laid off if you work somewhere too long because the employer doesn't want to pay you what your worth, and you can't get hired out of school because there are too many people with experience who are out of work also, so employers are now starting to offer entry level positions to people with experience...WHY? Because they can. It's an employers market in every career choice in this country. It's frustrating to say the least, and no amount of advice from anyone is going to help. Sorry, but you probably chose the worst field in this entire country right now. I graduated from the same school in 2010 with high honors and I am 38 years old with impeccable work history. I have put hundreds (literally) of applications out there with great references and I have had 2 phone interviews and 2 face to face interviews in 2 years. You have to think of it this way, states that require additional levels of certs have 100 people applying that already have that cert. Unless you want to pay for every state that requires additional level certs, you might as well not even bother.