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What does a nuclear medicine physician do?

Updated January 8, 2025
6 min read
Quoted expert
Janet Williams Ph.D.

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.

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Nuclear medicine physician responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real nuclear medicine physician resumes:

  • Provide overall quality prenatal health care, gynecological services, patient triage, refer patients with complications, provide patient education service
  • Perform minor procedures and suturing.

Nuclear medicine physician skills and personality traits

We calculated that 38% of Nuclear Medicine Physicians are proficient in Acls, Nuclear Medicine, and Thyroid. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Compassion, and Detail oriented.

We break down the percentage of Nuclear Medicine Physicians that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Acls, 38%

    Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) instructor.

  • Nuclear Medicine, 32%

    Supervised performance of general diagnostic and therapeutic nuclear medicine procedures in a teaching hospital.

  • Thyroid, 29%

    Bone, Kidney, Cardiac, Thyroid, Prosthesis scan are made.

Common skills that a nuclear medicine physician uses to do their job include "acls," "nuclear medicine," and "thyroid." You can find details on the most important nuclear medicine physician responsibilities below.

Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for a nuclear medicine physician to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "physicians and surgeons need to be excellent communicators." Additionally, a nuclear medicine physician resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "maintained excellent inter-department communication to ensure quality patient care. "

Compassion. Another essential skill to perform nuclear medicine physician duties is compassion. Nuclear medicine physicians responsibilities require that "patients who are sick or injured may be in extreme pain or distress." Nuclear medicine physicians also use compassion in their role according to a real resume snippet: "provided competent, compassionate patient care and worked effectively as a member of the health care team. "

Detail oriented. This is an important skill for nuclear medicine physicians to perform their duties. For an example of how nuclear medicine physician responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "patients must receive appropriate treatment and medications." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a nuclear medicine physician: "interpret and ensure accuracy of detailed documentation to facilitate patient care and safety. ".

Dexterity. For certain nuclear medicine physician responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "dexterity." The day-to-day duties of a nuclear medicine physician rely on this skill, as "physicians and surgeons may work with very precise and sometimes sharp tools, and mistakes can have serious consequences." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what nuclear medicine physicians do: "conducted hands-on minor surgical procedures such as homeostasis, debridement, suturing and dressing the wound. "

Leadership skills. Another crucial skill for a nuclear medicine physician to carry out their responsibilities is "leadership skills." A big part of what nuclear medicine physicians relies on this skill, since "physicians who work in their own practice must manage a staff of other professionals." How this skill relates to nuclear medicine physician duties can be seen in an example from a nuclear medicine physician resume snippet: "observed patient care and learned about common diseases 42 hours shadowed total leadership positions"

Physical stamina. While "physical stamina" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to nuclear medicine physician responsibilities. Much of what a nuclear medicine physician does relies on this skill, seeing as "physicians and surgeons should be comfortable lifting or turning disabled patients, or performing other physical tasks." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of nuclear medicine physicians: "conducted physical examinations to provide information needed for admission to jobs or eligibility for insurance coverage. "

The three companies that hire the most nuclear medicine physicians are:

Compare different nuclear medicine physicians

Nuclear medicine physician vs. Associate professor of radiology

Physicians' general responsibility is to check, diagnose, and treat a patient's condition to improve their overall wellness. A physician could be General Practitioners or Specialist Physicians, wherein General Practitioners are physicians who provide regular checkups for patients depending on their needs and refer them to a Specialist Physicians who are more skilled in a particular field of expertise for a thorough diagnosis. Physicians monitor a patient's medical history and ensure follow-up checkups to observe if the condition of a patient is changing over time. A physician may refer a patient to other health professionals for further examination as needed.

We looked at the average nuclear medicine physician salary and compared it with the wages of an associate professor of radiology. Generally speaking, associate professors of radiology are paid $78,684 lower than nuclear medicine physicians per year.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, nuclear medicine physician responsibilities require skills like "pet," "nuclear medicine studies," "acls," and "sm." Meanwhile a typical associate professor of radiology has skills in areas such as "patients," "ultrasound," "surgery," and "mri." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

On average, associate professors of radiology reach similar levels of education than nuclear medicine physicians. Associate professors of radiology are 2.1% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 29.3% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Nuclear medicine physician vs. Physician

A career as a physician brings a higher average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a nuclear medicine physician. In fact, physicians salary is $34,135 higher than the salary of nuclear medicine physicians per year.A few skills overlap for nuclear medicine physicians and physicians. Resumes from both professions show that the duties of each career rely on skills like "pet," "thyroid," and "ekg. "

Each career also uses different skills, according to real nuclear medicine physician resumes. While nuclear medicine physician responsibilities can utilize skills like "nuclear medicine studies," "acls," "nuclear medicine," and "sm," physicians use skills like "patients," "surgery," "patient care," and "internal medicine."

In general, physicians achieve similar levels of education than nuclear medicine physicians. They're 3.1% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 29.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for nuclear medicine physicians in the next 3-5 years?

Janet Williams Ph.D.Janet Williams Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Professor of Biology, College of Our Lady of the Elms

PCR diagnostics are already critical, but they will become more critical as time goes on, since nearly all disorders or infections might be able to be diagnosed with PCR technology, in a matter of minutes, in the clinic.
Possibly, a little further out, will be genome sequencing to determine health risks for patients. It might even be able to prescribe lifestyle and nutrition best-practices for individuals, based on their genetics.

Nuclear medicine physician vs. Nuclear medicine medical director

An average nuclear medicine medical director eans a higher salary compared to the average salary of nuclear medicine physicians. The difference in salaries amounts to nuclear medicine medical directors earning a $15,289 higher average salary than nuclear medicine physicians.

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a nuclear medicine physician is likely to be skilled in "pet," "nuclear medicine studies," "acls," and "sm," while a typical nuclear medicine medical director is skilled in "fda," "clinical development," "iit," and "medical science."

Nuclear medicine medical directors typically earn higher educational levels compared to nuclear medicine physicians. Specifically, they're 8.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 23.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Types of nuclear medicine physician

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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