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Nuclear pharmacists work to improve health through the safe and effective use of radioactive drugs to diagnose and treat diseases, such as cancer.
Radioactive materials are generally injected into a patient’s bloodstream or swallowed. Health care professionals can then use the resulting gamma scans to obtain a dynamic views of a patient’s organ function.
In addition to preparing the radiopharmaceutical agents, nuclear pharmacists are responsible for quality control and reviewing patients’ charts prior to any testing to ensure proper dosing.
Nuclear pharmacists must have specialized scientific knowledge and training to safely work with radioactive materials. Fortunately, because of strict safety standards, the amount of radiation exposure to pharmacists and others is very low.
Practice Setting: They work as part of a health care team in hospitals, imaging centers, or specialized pharmacies authorized to handle radiopharmaceuticals.
Educational Requirements: After earning a PharmD degree, nuclear pharmacists generally complete a training course and accumulate experiential hours to become recognized as an Authorized Nuclear Pharmacist (ANP).
Patients: Nuclear pharmacists work more closely with other health care providers than they do with patients directly.
Traits: You prefer to work in a commercial laboratory environment, and you want to work more closely with other health care providers instead of with patients. Additionally, you are interested in drug discovery and research.