Nuclear Pharmacy Technician

[QUOTE who=Anyone have questions, feel free to email me.

I have questions. Can I have your email address?

Tristan in Tyler, Texas said: You don't make much more if any. The techs where I work make from $11 to $22, it just depends on how long you have worked there. If you do go into nuclear be prepared to go into work at crazy times. I work from midnight to 8 a.m.

Do you urine green and experience the rapid cell growth? (CANCER) because the comment I read previously was kinda graphic!!! There isn't any occupation worth me risking my life or seeing my children grow older.

Tristan in Tyler, Texas said: You don't make much more if any. The techs where I work make from $11 to $22, it just depends on how long you have worked there. If you do go into nuclear be prepared to go into work at crazy times. I work from midnight to 8 a.m.

Very true! Most of the work is done between 11pm-8am. Weekends and holidays. I worked nights for 6 years hoping a dayshift would open up and no such luck.
I made 19/hr. Great job, but crappy hours!

I have been a nuclear pharm tech for almost 5 years, and my dosimetry is so low that corp didn't even think I dispenesed full time, but I pulol hundreads of doses a night.
There are guidelines ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable)
As far as cell dispersment and re allignment, every time you are hit with radiation it scatters the cells and they can grow back perfect or damaged, low dose ionizing radiation has been a heated topic for years, all I know is, the pharmacists in thier 50's look 30, I love radiation, and I love what I am doing for people. I treat every dose like it is going into someone I love, I try to make a difference in the world every night.
Also I don't know it it's the hour of calibration but everyone in this feild is crazy and brilliant at the same time.
As far as urine, as long as you are not drinking antifreeze it should be a color..;)

salonkitty7 in Saint Petersburg, Florida said: I have been a nuclear pharm tech for almost 5 years, and my dosimetry is so low that corp didn't even think I dispenesed full time, but I pulol hundreads of doses a night.
There are guidelines ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable)
As far as cell dispersment and re allignment, every time you are hit with radiation it scatters the cells and they can grow back perfect or damaged, low dose ionizing radiation has been a heated topic for years, all I know is, the pharmacists in thier 50's look 30, I love radiation, and I love what I am doing for people. I treat every dose like it is going into someone I love, I try to make a difference in the world every night.
Also I don't know it it's the hour of calibration but everyone in this feild is crazy and brilliant at the same time.
As far as urine, as long as you are not drinking antifreeze it should be a color..;)

wow...lac of sleep has killed my ability to spell, sorry.

Chris in Portland, Oregon said: Does anyone know the payscale for this field? I am assuming it pays more since it requires extra training. I have seen pharmacy tech openings for nuclear pharmacy, and something called a PET technician. Anybody with info on this???>?

I currently work as a nuclear pharmacy technician, as for all the comments on radiation levels, we do take precautionary measures. Every person who enters the restricted area, where the radioactivity is, has to wear rings and a body badge that measure the amount of radiation you come in contact with. If your levels get to high you are benched sort of speak. You really aren't in any amount of danger on a day to day basis. There are many different measures to keep the employees safe as well as snyone else in the area of our facilities.

Keyan Franklin in College Park, Maryland said: Chris...Im a Nuc Med Tech, and ive been working for Cardinal Health for 2 years now. The pay is decent, but not if you live in an expensive area (LA, HOUSTON, DC, etc) I cannot legally tell you how much I make, but youre right about not being worth the extra couple of bucks. It actually starts paying only 26K before taxes. The experience is good, and if youre certified, its even better. Sorry, your pee wont glow, sperm cells dont disappear, and you dont glow in the dark...You just really need to be motivated to become and stay a tech, otherwise, youll be looking for a new job soon, because it is tedious at times. Anyone have questions, feel free to email me.

It is my goal to become certified as a nuclear pharmacy Tech and I understand cardinal health can train. I have two years experience as inventory analyst in a pharceutical supply chain like cardinal. Do you thing this will boost my chances of getting hired in cardinal when I get my certification as a pharmacy technician?

I currently earn $13 an hour. Do you think I may be able to make it to $20 an hour in cardinal?

Is it true it is a dangerous place to work due to be expose to radioactive substances?

The pay really varies where you live or which pharmacy lab you work for. I worked for Cardinal Health also, in two different cities--one in Va and one in NC and the pay rate was totally different. If you work for Cardinal Health they send you off to nuclear pharmacy technician training and certify you that way. It's a fun job but the hours were crazy--I worked from 1am-9am-Mon-Friday. Worked great for me because I had two kids to watch during the day but I was sleep deprived!

Chris in Portland, Oregon said: Does anyone know the payscale for this field? I am assuming it pays more since it requires extra training. I have seen pharmacy tech openings for nuclear pharmacy, and something called a PET technician. Anybody with info on this???>?

Although the radioactive substances can be dangerous--you learn all kinds of radiation safety to be able to avoid too much exposure. No, you don't pee green and you don't glow in the dark--the half life of the radioactive substance isn't long enough--for most of what is handled in the lab. So, anyways, you do get trained in everything. So, I wouldn't worry!

osas ogieva in Missouri City, Texas said: It is my goal to become certified as a nuclear pharmacy Tech and I understand cardinal health can train. I have two years experience as inventory analyst in a pharceutical supply chain like cardinal. Do you thing this will boost my chances of getting hired in cardinal when I get my certification as a pharmacy technician?

I currently earn $13 an hour. Do you think I may be able to make it to $20 an hour in cardinal?

Is it true it is a dangerous place to work due to be expose to radioactive substances?

So how about if the person has a Bachelor of Science degree and gets into the Nuclear Pharmacy Technician opportunity at Cardinal, how much would the person make?

Keyan Franklin in College Park, Maryland said: Chris...Im a Nuc Med Tech, and ive been working for Cardinal Health for 2 years now. The pay is decent, but not if you live in an expensive area (LA, HOUSTON, DC, etc) I cannot legally tell you how much I make, but youre right about not being worth the extra couple of bucks. It actually starts paying only 26K before taxes. The experience is good, and if youre certified, its even better. Sorry, your pee wont glow, sperm cells dont disappear, and you dont glow in the dark...You just really need to be motivated to become and stay a tech, otherwise, youll be looking for a new job soon, because it is tedious at times. Anyone have questions, feel free to email me.

Hi,I've read your posting. I just recently saw an online job opening from Cardinal in my area and wondering if it's legit and possibly a good career to pursue. So my understanding is that you don't have to be a certified pharm tech first to get the job? Sounds like the Nuclear Pharm Tech makes more than the regular tech.... since you actually work there...maybe is that what happens? I know you can't give our you salary but I didn't want to get into a place where I'll be stuck with the same salary rate forever so..
I'd really appreciate it if you'd give me some idea.. I'm going to start pharm tech school this fall and don't know if it's needed for Cardinal.
Thank you soooooo much!!!

Your email was very helpful.. do you know if they are hiring phar Tech in nuclear facility of cardinal health in houston ?

Unfortunately I couldn't find any on Indeed.com jobs site. Just regular PharmTech but not at Cardinal nor the actual Nuclear Tech. I've just read pretty bad reviews about Cardinal. Maybe its best to stay away

Keyan Franklin in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania said: I basically draw any doses that the PIC hands me, whether it be FDG from the cyclotron, or regular Tc99m doses throughout the day. The pharmacist does the compunding of all kits, and you are responaible for maintaining a "cold" hood, assisting any pharmacists with other tasks, and any tasks that the pharmacy manager, RSO, or supervisors ask of you. You may have to run "QC" tests at various times of the day, and possibly draw sources for the customers cameras for the following day.

It's really a great job and very demanding and rewarding at the same time. I've been with Cardinal Health for over 2 years, and couldn't imagine working for any other nuclear pharmacy company. I will say that we do have the largest lab in the country and the next biggest ones are in California and in Houston. You should definitely apply for cardinal health, they will be more than happy to train you, especially since you're already a pharmacy tech. If you have any more questions, shoot me an email at kfranklin50@yahoo.com. Good luck! Oh and btw, if you do apply for CH, refer my name from location #03 in MD

.

HI

Your comment was really helpful.. i currently work for cardinal health in one of the DC as an inventory analyst and I am yellow belt certified. studing to be certified as a Pharmacy Tech and I am interested in working for Nuclear section of cardinal health. my fear is that I hadly see available positions posted for techs in the nuclear section.... do they really have positons for tech all the time?

Chris in Portland, Oregon said: Does anyone know the payscale for this field? I am assuming it pays more since it requires extra training. I have seen pharmacy tech openings for nuclear pharmacy, and something called a PET technician. Anybody with info on this???>?

As per my experience as a NPT in a Nuclear Pharmacy at one of the top companies in the business expect anything from $12.00 hr to $20.00 with the average of $15.00.Unless you become a pharmacist you won't get anything better.I have been in this business for close to 10 years have not heard anybody doing beyond that pay scale and to get those $20 you have to be like in charge of most about everything else the pharmacist isn't.

osas ogieva in Missouri City, Texas said: . HI

Your comment was really helpful.. i currently work for cardinal health in one of the DC as an inventory analyst and I am yellow belt certified. studing to be certified as a Pharmacy Tech and I am interested in working for Nuclear section of cardinal health. my fear is that I hadly see available positions posted for techs in the nuclear section.... do they really have positons for tech all the time?

Until recently i worked for Cardinal Health for about 2 years before this i was working with Bristol Myers Squibb before Lantheus bought the Medical Image department.Each has its own advantages but to be honest Bristol was way better than Cardinal the main reason is at Bristol we have more freedom as a pharmacy to deal with our own situations with headquarters support.

For example we choose what equipment suits our pharmacy better depending on the situation anything from syringes to vehicles,cardinal have a set of expert who most of the time don't have a clue whats is best for the pharmacy designing equipment that sometimes end making our lives miserable also they lag behind technology.At Bristol Myers everything was bar coded from the moment it was enter on the computer to the moment the dose was returned to the pig because it was used thus leaving very small margin for errors like wrong hour,medication,isotope etc... as for those entering this info manually knows how it is at 5am in the morning after 700-800 doses on a day we tight on Tc-99m.

Also Bristol was very proactive in ergonomics and again some of you know how it is standing for 3-4 hours straight in front of one of those hoods buts is even worse when you are 6'6' and the hood is set up for the average 5'8' John Doe but Bristol had a solution for these with the flick of a button you could raise or lower the hood around 6"up 6" down.

I worked at Cardinal Health for 7 years and overall, I enjoyed my time there. I started out as a pharmacy tech trainee and completed the course work within 3 months of being hired. When I went through the training, it was held in Memphis and it was very informative. I was promoted from the Omaha, NE lab to a position in the Balto./D.C. area, but I am no longer with the company. While some of the comments regarding Cardinal are a bit harsh, I believe that they do not support some employees as well as they should. I especially noticed the lack of women in mgmt. positions. The benefits are decent, not great. However, if you are ambitious, you can excel in the corporation IF you know the right people. Another thing that soured my relationship with the company was the amount of empty promises made by mgmt. As I said, I enjoyed working with Cardinal but they would benefit from hiring process improvement consultants. Also, to the people who make comments about the job being DANGEROUS, read a book!!!! If you do your research, you will learn that nuclear pharmacy is NOT a dangerous field. Nuclear pharmacy and medicine is cutting edge, exciting, and speacialized. The people I met working for Cardinal are some of the finest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and they would do anything for you.

Keyan Franklin in College Park, Maryland said: Chris...Im a Nuc Med Tech, and ive been working for Cardinal Health for 2 years now. The pay is decent, but not if you live in an expensive area (LA, HOUSTON, DC, etc) I cannot legally tell you how much I make, but youre right about not being worth the extra couple of bucks. It actually starts paying only 26K before taxes. The experience is good, and if youre certified, its even better. Sorry, your pee wont glow, sperm cells dont disappear, and you dont glow in the dark...You just really need to be motivated to become and stay a tech, otherwise, youll be looking for a new job soon, because it is tedious at times. Anyone have questions, feel free to email me.

I am in Nuc Med Tech as a student now. It's not easy to come to the realization that I will be jobless after this long haul. Any advice? I need all I can get. I sort of want to stop doing this because of the lack of jobs but I love doing it. It is hard and I need some help. You have any?

I'm currently in school to become a pharmacy technician and I was wondering how would i become a nuclear pharmacy technician?

The hospital I work for recently wanted to train me as a nuclear pharmacy technician getting hazard pay of $1.50 extra an hour. They would train me onsite just as they did with my IV certification. After careful consideration (about 2 seconds) I declined their offer of a buck fifty. No matter how careful you are the possibility for a mistake still exists.

Hello,

My Joe Davis I’m a Attending Tech at MGH in Mass, this is a very new field for Pharmacy Tech. Purdue University is developing a training program for this field. Cardinal Health in Woburn, Mass had a job posting for this a week ago. As with any tech job that exposes you to toxic material you get very high pay. In Mass, Chemotherapy Tech gets $16-20 as hour for the high risk. For this level of risk I have no doubt that these jobs will offer $22-27 and have lots of bonuses and perks as well as evening and night difference. Mass General Hospital gives you $5.60 an hour more for working that overnight here.

BAP in Lubbock, Texas said: The hospital I work for recently wanted to train me as a nuclear pharmacy technician getting hazard pay of $1.50 extra an hour. They would train me onsite just as they did with my IV certification. After careful consideration (about 2 seconds) I declined their offer of a buck fifty. No matter how careful you are the possibility for a mistake still exists.

it exist getting accidently stuck by a needle that was used on a hiv,aids or hep c patient to. should have took that job because it is a great field to be in. Im a nuclear med tech and all you have to do is be careful like you do with patients. radiation safety/universal precautions is the samething "use the safety skills they teach you and you would be fine". Do you really think if it was that dangerous the feds would let people inject the isotopes into other people!!

Keyan, I am trying to get a job in cardinal health and have applied many times....I live in Florida and am going to school for nuclear medicine and want to try and get started in my selected career. I am willing to work in any department so I can atleast get my foot in the door. I do have experience as a lab tech and have some certifications in radioactive usages. I was wondering do you have any suggestions in trying to get hired in that company.

What equipment is used in a Nuclear Pharmacy? And what skills are needed?

The nuclear tech jobs are scarce and you pretty much have to wait until someone dies to get in.

Not very accurate - you may have to relocate if you want a job right away, but jobs are out there.

This field concerns me due to the radioactive isotopes that you are exposed to everyday. Within a month you will be setting off geiger counters everywhere, peeing flourescent green, and glowing in the dark haha!

Most nuclear pharmacies (if not all of them) have very high standards related to exposure and documenttion of such. If you do your job correctly, the exposure is very limited.

Chris in Portland, Oregon said: The nuclear tech jobs are scarce and you pretty much have to wait until someone dies to get in. The training is on the job but previous tech experience is preffered. This field concerns me due to the radioactive isotopes that you are exposed to everyday. Within a month you will be setting off geiger counters everywhere, peeing flourescent green, and glowing in the dark haha! These radioactive items can alter your dna and potentially cause rapid cell growth (cancer), so you have to ask yourself is the extra couple of bucks an hour really worth it in the long run.

Yeah I believe it is 100% worth it. I would put my life on the line if I had a chance to save 10 times more lives instead of me living. Especially the young kids who haven't even had a chance to live their life and didn't even get to have a childhood because they spent it all being sick and not knowing if they will wake up the next day.

I am looking for work in nucular waste clean up

check out nukeworker.com

julia in Loganville, Georgia said: People PLEASE don't pay money for pharmacy technician schools, buy the books and study on your own (3-4 months) and then take the PTCB exam. GEE, why would you throw your money away? after you pass the PTCB exam, start training at a CVS or Walgreens and after a year of experience apply at a hospital for better pay. Nuclear pharmacist not included (you do need extra training)

A lot of jobs would rather hire a tech that went to school rather someone that just took yht exam they look at that in the hiring process..especially if you want to work with iv meds which pays more than retail

Can anyone tell me if Nuclear Pharmacy Tech require pre-employment physical and hair follicle testing ?

lucha lujan in Albuquerque, New Mexico said: I am currently enrolled in the pharmacy technician program at pima medical institue and i found out that there are a variety of jobs that i will soon be qualified for but the must intresting was nuclear pharmacy. I more or less know what it is about and i would love to try it but i don't know if i need extra training so if anyone knows what i need to do please let me know it would be highly appreciated thank you.

I was just reading up on becoming a Nuclear Pharmacy Technician, im only currently becoming a Pharmacy Technician as of now and im taking Pharmacy Tech Classes and my book says, In order to become a Nuclear Pharmacy Technician you have to complete 300 hours of online self-study and supervised instruction in addition to experiential training with nuclear pharmacists serving as preceptors. The Professional Compounding Centers of America (PCCA) provide didactic courses and Laboratories to learn this trait.

QTCowgirl in Houston, Texas said: I just finished pharmacy technician school and am currently looking for a job.. i heard about nuclear pharmacy and am really interested in it.. is it better than working in the hospital.. I did my intern at a hospital in houston texas and really liked it because it kept me on my feet all day and i got a lot of excercise... what do you do as a nuclear pharmacy tech????

Did you find a job in the hospital yet?

Chris in Portland, Oregon said: Does anyone know the payscale for this field? I am assuming it pays more since it requires extra training. I have seen pharmacy tech openings for nuclear pharmacy, and something called a PET technician. Anybody with info on this???>?

Iam currently working for nuclear pharmacy here in chesapeake virginia, and i must say that nuclear tech definitely makes a lot more than pharmacy tech.

bpresgrove said: Hey all, just finished with the NPT class and passed. Now trying will try for AU class, if I can talk my manager and his boss into it. Will be supervising the PET side of our pharmacy when we get it up and running here in a few months, should be fun. Hope everyone is doing well and work is going great.

Are you still in the field?

nate in Portsmouth, Virginia said: Iam currently working for nuclear pharmacy here in chesapeake virginia, and i must say that nuclear tech definitely makes a lot more than pharmacy tech.

Nate,

I am in a rut, I need a last minute interview with a NPT and I found you...Could you help? Please!!

Jane

Does anyone know of any places that are hiring for nuclear pharmacy technicians?

julia in Loganville, Georgia said: People PLEASE don't pay money for pharmacy technician schools, buy the books and study on your own (3-4 months) and then take the PTCB exam. GEE, why would you throw your money away? after you pass the PTCB exam, start training at a CVS or Walgreens and after a year of experience apply at a hospital for better pay. Nuclear pharmacist not included (you do need extra training)

But you live in a different state dont you need to have an approved pharmacy technician school and then take the test?

It depends on your skill, education level and what part of the USA you going to work in. Here in the Massachusetts the starting pay for an average pharmacy tech is $14-$17 an hour and the medium range is $18-$22 and the higher end range is $23-$30 an hour. Mass General Hospital has built a new Caner Center and is hiring lots of specialize Pharmacy tech. Like Nuclear Pharmacy, Research, and Allergy Tech. There is also a lot of Specialty pharmacy here that pay highly, but of course you have to have years of experience.

Sorry Julia, but here in the Northeast, there are pharmacy tech school and most hospitals like the one I worked at does take formal education at these school above retail experience at a Walgreens or CVS. If you work at one of these places here, without any formal education, you would need 5-8 years of experience and your certification before a hospital would give you a chance.