Job opening: Nuclear Medicine Technologist
Salary: $91 005 - 118 304 per year
Published at: Oct 07 2024
Employment Type: Full-time
Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital (http://www.hines.va.gov/), located 12 miles west of downtown Chicago on a 147-acre campus, offers primary, extended and specialty care and serves as a tertiary care referral center for VISN 12. Specialized clinical programs include Blind Rehabilitation, Spinal Cord Injury, Neurosurgery, Radiation Therapy and Cardiovascular Surgery. The hospital also serves as the VISN 12 southern tier hub for pathology, radiology, radiation therapy and fiscal services.
Duties
Nuclear Medicine Technologists have responsibility for providing a wide range of specialized nuclear medicine procedures, including diagnostic imaging, therapy with unsealed radioactive materials, in-vivo or in-vitro cell labeling; evaluating abnormal results; using and maintaining equipment; setting up and monitoring quality control; working within guidelines from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Department of Transportation (DOT), National Health Physics Program, Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA) among others.
Major Duties:
Coordinate patient exams, staffing schedules including call schedules and other clinical issues within the nuclear medicine service.
Work closely with the nuclear medicine physician(s) to optimize patient care and obtain the highest quality images.
Respond to staffing shortages and/or increases in workload by reassigning work duties and requesting assistance from the Medical Imaging Supervisor.
Prepare, assay, and administer radiopharmaceutical doses by injection, inhalation or ingestion as prescribed.
Be knowledgeable regarding possible side effects of radiopharmaceuticals and other medications, such as Lasix and captopril, to be administered. Take immediate action to remedy any noted effects.
Obtain pertinent clinical data from the patient, electronic chart, requisition, and interviewing the patient and/or family.
Operate nuclear medicine equipment such as gamma cameras, well counters, GM survey meters, thyroid uptake system, and dose calibrators, SPECT/CT for various patient procedures.
Understand and be able to perform exposure rate calculations.
Recognize potential radiation contamination by visual and mechanical methods.
Beta test new software on highly technical nuclear medicine equipment when necessary. Provide written and verbal analysis of testing to the software and hardware designers on a routine basis.
Perform daily laboratory surveys, wipe tests and bio-assays. Recognize evidence of contamination and act accordingly to maintain ALARA principles.
Assign staff to cover areas experiencing higher workload levels. Restructure work assignments and utilize available technologist and PRN staffing as necessary to ideally match staff with workload.
Perform other nuclear medicine related duties as assigned by supervisor.
Work Schedule: Varying shifts: 7:00am - 3:30pm or 8:00am - 4:30pm (Mon-Fri, weekends, holidays on call rotation) TBD
Telework: Not Available.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
Qualifications
Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.
Basic Requirements:
United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
English Language Proficiency: Must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, Paragraph 3j.
Certification. All applicants must be certified in nuclear medicine technology by the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board (NMTCB) or American Registry of Radiologic Technology (ARRT) (N).
NMTCB or ARRT (N) certification eligibility requirements are normally satisfied by one of the following:
1. Completion of a NMTCB-recognized nuclear medicine technology program,
OR
2. Completion of a nuclear medicine technology program accredited by the Joint Review Committee on Educational Programs in Nuclear Medicine Technology (JRCNMT), or other accrediting agencies as recognized by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), culminating in a certificate, associate, baccalaureate, or master's degree. Educational programs must have structured clinical training sufficient to provide clinical competency in radiation safety, instrumentation, clinical procedures, and radio-pharmacy, as deemed acceptable by the NMTCB.
IN ADDITION TO MEETING THE BASIC REQUIREMENTS LISTED ABOVE, YOU MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING GRADE REQUIREMENTS TO QUALIFY FOR THIS POSITION.
GS-11 Grade Requirements:
Specialized Experience: Must have 1 year of creditable experience equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-9) directly related to the position being filled, and must fully meet the KSAs at that level.
AND
Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. The candidate must demonstrate all of the following technical KSAs:
- Ability to produce and assess high quality scans and quality control images using independent judgement to recognize abnormal or unacceptable results.
- Knowledge and skill in use of ancillary equipment with an understanding of how the results will affect the study outcome.
- Knowledge of physiologic processes as they relate to altered radiopharmaceutical uptake and/or artefactual findings.
- Ability to obtain, assess, and document pre-therapy patient preparation information and provide post-therapy patient education following proper administration of advanced therapy dose.
- Ability to develop new protocols for imaging procedures.
- Ability to analyze instances of increased radiation exposure levels and recommend measures to reduce.
- Ability to analyze consequences of improper packaging of radioactive material and take appropriate actions.
Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.
Education
IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.
Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here:
http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit:
https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.
Contacts
- Address Edward Hines Junior Hospital
5000 South 5th Avenue
Hines, IL 60141
US
- Name: Torenzo Davis
- Phone: 708-940-1828
- Email: [email protected]
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