Nuclear Physician Interview Questions And Answers

Demonstrates candidates' interpersonal and communication skills.

Demonstrates candidates' knowledge of radiopharmaceuticals and their side effects.

Clinical settings you may have experience with are in-patient, out-patient, ICU, ER, family practice, community clinics, other settings within hospitals. Tell the interviewer which setting you've worked in and how you've been successful in them. If this will be your first job out of school, tell the interviewer where you did your clinicals or what type of setting you've volunteered in.

Nuclear medicine physician responsibilities are to advise other physicians of the clinical indications, limitations, assessments, or risks of diagnostic and therapeutic applications of radioactive materials;
Check and approve the quality of diagnostic images before patients are discharged; compare nuclear medicine procedures with other types of procedures such as computed tomography, ultrasonography, nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, and angiography; consult with patients following radiation treatments to provide information and assess outcomes or to recommend further consultation or treatments as appropriate;
Determine appropriate tests or protocols based on patients' needs or conditions; direct nuclear medicine technologists or technicians regarding desired dosages, techniques, positions, and projections; establish and enforce radiation protection standards for patients and staff; formulate plans and procedures for nuclear medicine departments; interpret imaging data and confer with other medical specialists to formulate diagnoses; interview and physically examine patients prior to testing;
Monitor cleanup of radioactive spills to ensure that proper procedures are followed and that decontamination activities are conducted; prepare comprehensive interpretive reports of findings; prescribe radionuclides and dosages to be administered to individual patients; review procedure requests and patients' medical histories to determine applicability of procedures and radioisotopes to be used; monitor handling of radioactive materials to ensure that established procedures are followed; provide advice on the selection of nuclear medicine supplies or equipment; direct the safe management and disposal of radioactive substances; monitor quality control of radionuclide preparation, administration, or disposition ensuring that activities comply with applicable regulations and standards; teach nuclear medicine, diagnostic radiology, or other specialties at graduate educational level; administer radioisotopes to clinical patients or research subjects; perform cardiovascular nuclear medicine procedures such as exercise testing and pharmacologic stress testing; schedule examinations and staff activities; calculate, measure, or prepare radioisotope dosages;
Test dosage evaluation instruments and survey meters to ensure they are operating properly; conduct laboratory procedures, such as radioimmunoassay studies of blood or urine, using radionuclides; consult with anesthesiologists regarding recommended dosages or combinations of sedative drugs.

Because of my interest in physiology, I discovered that I truly love nuclear medicine. My first real exposure to it was when I followed one of my otolaryngology patients who had a melanoma of the helix of the ear to the NM department for a lymphoscintigraphy. When I found out that the specialty of NM uses the tracer principle to visualize physiologic processes in addition to chemistry, physics and plenty of math (that day I even used the Pythagorean Theorem), I fell in love. Yes, I’m a proud geek and was so happy to find a specialty that married many of my interests.

This is a tough question to answer. I work until all the patient work is done. We occasionally have work-related meetings after work and I take call for a week at a time roughly every third week. I also will review some things after hours on my own at home for certain situations or patients. If I were to estimate the number of hours I work doing nuclear medicine-related things, it would be around 60 to 80 hours per week.

This is a very difficult question, since in truth there’s quite a lot that can be improved. From the perspective of education, I think it would be great for medical students to have a better understanding of costs of care and the business side of medicine.

I have a wonderful husband and two beautiful dogs (a sweet three-year-old Goldendoodle and a crazy seven-month-old Sheepadoodle puppy). We all enjoy dog parks and long walks. My husband and I will be celebrating our five-year anniversary this year and are considering expanding the family with some human children within the next few years.

medical specialty that uses radioactive substances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease

study that traces the passage of barium in a sequential manner as it passes through the small intestine

Demonstrates candidates' willingness to stay up-to-date in the field.

As a Nuclear Medicine Technologist, you know that radiopharmaceuticals are drugs that contain radionuclides that emit radiation. The distribution of the radiopharmaceutical within the body is determined by the physiochemical properties of the drug, the stability of the radiolabel, the purity of the radiopharmaceutical preparation, the pathophysiologic state of the patient, and the presence or absence of interfering drugs. If you are new to the field explain that you are looking forward from learning from your Sr. Technologists. If preparing radiopharmaceuticals has become second nature, tell the interviewer about your experience preparing and administering them to your patients.

Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems, Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making, Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents, Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience, Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

I first decided to become a doctor in the second grade after reading the biography of the first woman doctor, Elizabeth Blackwell. Along the way I had several other experiences that solidified that early notion. In particular, my undergraduate work in zoology, physiology and microbiology with a minor in chemistry further cemented my aim of practicing medicine one day.

This is a tough question, but I think the best answer I can give is that not many people know what nuclear medicine is. This is a small specialty with a different knowledge set. We have a lot of work ahead of us educating our colleagues in other specialties as well as the public.

I would say, “Go for it! You’ll love nuclear medicine!”

a particle emitted by a radioisotope and formed from a nucleus of helium containing two protons and two neutrons with potential therapeutic uses owing to strong ionizing power.

unit of radioactivity; one curie equates to the radioactivity emitted by one gram of pure radium-226, one of the first natural radioactive materials available and isolated at the beginning of the last century. In principle, this unit should no longer be used because it was replaced by the becquerel in the 1980s.

radiopaque materials are injected to help visualize a specific part, organ, tube, or liquid when shown on x-ray film

Demonstrates candidates' technical and mechanical skills, as well as attention to detail.

As a Nuclear Medicine Technologist, you knwo that a Radioactive Iodine Update Test measures thyroid function and how much radioactive iodine is taken up by your thyroid gland in a certain time period. Explain to the interviewer how this test is performed.

The knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures, the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar, plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment, Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub- atomic structures and processes, circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

Yes. Even though finding a job in the specialty of nuclear medicine is difficult, I wouldn’t change a thing. This is a field that is very technology driven and promises to be a powerhouse for the future of precision medicine. The ability to label antibodies to treat and image different pathologies based on physiology is amazing. In the future, other more molecular based forms of nuclear medicine imaging and treatment will give us additional precision and personalization in the treatment of our patients. This greatly excites me. If NM hadn’t been invented, I would have pursued forensic pathology.

Don’t lose heart, things will work out in the end. Keep your focus on doing what you like to do as well as helping patients and you’ll be fine. Don’t forget to always do the right thing for your patients.

The thing I like most about being a nuclear medicine physician is being able to make a difference in a patient’s care. This is most often in the form of giving feedback in the form of F-18 FDG PET/CT to let the patient’s oncologists or radiation oncologists know how the treatment is working. But, this is a tie with being able to give radionuclide therapies either to prolong survival with patients who have differentiated thyroid cancer or give palliative therapy for pain in patients with widespread osseous metastatic disease. Being able to make a difference for patients is very rewarding.