The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), located in Little Rock, Arkansas, has five colleges and a graduate school. This teaching hospital consistently is voted one of America's best hospitals by "U.S. News and World Report." UAMS has a joint program with the University of New Mexico that offers nuclear pharmacy technician certification via online training. The UAMS curriculum focuses on radiation physics and instrumentation, radiation protection, mathematics of radioactivity, radiation biology and radiopharmaceutical chemistry. Nuclear pharmacy technicians also learn the proper procedures for ordering, receiving and storing materials, how to calibrate dose calibrators and calculating, preparing and administering patient dosages.
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
4301 Markham Street
Little Rock, AR 72205
501-686-6220
pharmacy.uams.edu
Purdue's School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences offers a certificate program in nuclear pharmacy technology. The program exists to give post-graduate pharmacists the necessary training to practice nuclear pharmacy. The program has two components --- self-study and campus sessions. The self-study portion consists of watching DVD-based lessons and reading assignments while working and receiving field training in a nuclear pharmacy. Students study at their own pace during this portion of training. Upon completion of a majority of the DVD lectures, the students attend a six-day training session at Perdue. The campus sessions focus on laboratory and lecture training that emphasize nuclear pharmacy principles. Students take eight exams during the self-study portion and three point quizzes plus a final exam during the campus session.
Purdue University
575 Stadium Hall Drive
Room 308
West Lafayette, IN 47907
765-494-1441
nuclear.pharmacy.purdue.edu
The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy provides certification training for nuclear pharmacy technicians. The program consists of numerous lectures designed to develop a pharmacist's knowledge in nuclear pharmacy practices. The training occurs in a licensed, active nuclear pharmacy under the supervision of three board-certified nuclear pharmacists. Study topics include history of the use of radionuclides in medicine, radiation physics and types of radiation, radioactivity units, radiation safety and central nervous system radiopharmaceuticals. Students also have the opportunity to tour or spend time in a nuclear reactor, cyclotron, nuclear cardiac imaging center or Positron Emission Topography (P.E.T.) imaging center.
The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy
217 Parks Hall
500 West 12th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210
614-292-2266
pharmacy.ohio-state.edu