Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between nuclear medicine physicians and certified medical technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a nuclear medicine physician, becoming a certified medical technician takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a nuclear medicine physician has an average salary of $204,752, which is higher than the $38,859 average annual salary of a certified medical technician.
The top three skills for a nuclear medicine physician include acls, nuclear medicine and thyroid. The most important skills for a certified medical technician are patients, vital signs, and CPR.
| Nuclear Medicine Physician | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $204,752 | $38,859 |
| Hourly rate | $98.44 | $18.68 |
| Growth rate | 7% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 43,950 | 164,424 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Doctoral Degree, 38% | Bachelor's Degree, 28% |
| Average age | 48 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 12 |
A nuclear medicine physician, also known as a nuclear radiologist, uses radioactive materials to diagnose and treat diseases. The process uses radiopharmaceuticals to take images of a patient's body. The duties of this position include diagnosis and therapy using radiopharmaceuticals, dealing with cancer patients, keeping up with updated safety standards associated with radioactive materials, and ensuring that the radioactive materials are handled within a controlled environment so as not to endanger those outside the created environment.
Certified Medical Technicians are specialists in medical diagnoses by performing laboratory testing and analysis for hospitals and physicians. Their duties include lab sanitization to prepare for testing and collection, recording medical samples for testing, specimen preparation, blood drawing for donation and testing, and assisting physicians with sample collection as well as equipment handling in surgical rooms. They must also understand how to use complex and sensitive testing equipment such as cell counters, analyzers, microscopes, and centrifuges.
Nuclear medicine physicians and certified medical technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Nuclear Medicine Physician | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Average salary | $204,752 | $38,859 |
| Salary range | Between $100,000 And $417,000 | Between $28,000 And $53,000 |
| Highest paying City | Montgomery, AL | Denton, TX |
| Highest paying state | Minnesota | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Wellstar Health System | Favorite Healthcare Staffing |
| Best paying industry | - | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a nuclear medicine physician and a certified medical technician in terms of educational background:
| Nuclear Medicine Physician | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Most common degree | Doctoral Degree, 38% | Bachelor's Degree, 28% |
| Most common major | Medicine | Nursing |
| Most common college | Texas A&M University | University of Connecticut |
Here are the differences between nuclear medicine physicians' and certified medical technicians' demographics:
| Nuclear Medicine Physician | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Average age | 48 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 63.2% Female, 36.8% | Male, 20.4% Female, 79.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 6.4% Asian, 19.9% White, 65.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 15.9% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 10.0% White, 53.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 13% | 8% |