Top 12 Nuclear Medicine Technologist Skills to Put on Your Resume
In the highly specialized field of nuclear medicine technology, the skills you spotlight can tilt the odds. Hiring teams scan for competence, safety, and crisp execution. Below, twelve core abilities that deserve room on your resume—practical, current, and undeniably relevant.
Nuclear Medicine Technologist Skills
- SPECT imaging
- PET/CT proficiency
- Radiopharmaceutical handling
- Gamma camera operation
- Radiation safety
- PACS expertise
- IV administration
- Quality control
- Anatomy knowledge
- Patient positioning
- Dosimetry calculation
- Cross-sectional anatomy
1. SPECT imaging
SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) uses gamma emissions to generate 3D functional images of organs and tissues. It reveals physiology in motion—perfusion, receptor activity, viability—where structure alone falls short.
Why It's Important
SPECT helps pinpoint function, stage disease, and track response to therapy. For technologists, it’s the backbone of many studies: quality images, correct protocols, and patient-centered execution lead to reliable answers.
How to Improve SPECT imaging Skills
Sharper SPECT starts before the acquisition and continues through processing.
Patient prep, done right: Hydration when appropriate, medication and diet instructions, motion minimization—less scatter, cleaner results.
Match protocol to question: Choose the proper collimator, energy window, matrix, and time per projection based on patient size and clinical need.
Exploit modern reconstruction: Use iterative methods with attenuation and scatter correction, resolution recovery, and, when available, SPECT/CT for localization.
Control motion: Gated acquisitions for cardiac work, respiratory or motion correction tools when indicated.
QC and calibration: Daily floods, regular energy peaking, uniformity checks, and timely service keep images trustworthy.
Radiopharmaceutical integrity: Verify activity, purity, and timing; document lot and expiration; avoid delays that blunt target-to-background.
Keep learning: New detectors (including CZT), smarter software, better dose strategies—staying current pays off in image fidelity.
How to Display SPECT imaging Skills on Your Resume
2. PET/CT proficiency
PET/CT proficiency means you can prepare patients, handle radiotracers, run acquisitions, perform corrections, process and fuse datasets, and troubleshoot—producing diagnostic-quality studies that physicians can interpret with confidence.
Why It's Important
Accurate PET/CT depends on meticulous prep and consistent technique. Dose timing, uptake conditions, motion control, and reconstruction choices directly influence quantitation and image quality.
How to Improve PET/CT proficiency Skills
Nail the prep: Standardize glucose control, uptake times, rest/warm protocols, and patient comfort to stabilize SUVs and reduce artifacts.
Acquisition discipline: Center precisely, minimize motion, consider respiratory coaching, and implement motion correction when available.
Smart reconstruction: Use appropriate iterations, filters, TOF and point-spread function options when supported, and harmonize with site protocols.
CT matters: Tailor CT for attenuation correction and localization; optimize dose with size-specific protocols.
Quality checks: Validate calibration factors, daily QC, phantom-based verification, and cross-compare SUVs for consistency.
Keep pace: Digital PET systems, new tracers, and evolving oncology/cardiac/neuro protocols change fast—refresh skills regularly.
How to Display PET/CT proficiency Skills on Your Resume
3. Radiopharmaceutical handling
Radiopharmaceutical handling covers preparation, dose calculation, drawing and administration, documentation, and disposal—completed safely, aseptically, and in compliance with regulations.
Why It's Important
Patient outcomes and staff safety hinge on correct activity, purity, sterility, and tight control of exposure. Errors ripple; precision prevents them.
How to Improve Radiopharmaceutical handling Skills
ALARA in action: Time, distance, shielding—use syringe shields, L-blocks, tongs, and efficient setups.
Aseptic technique: Work in a clean area or isolator, disinfect rigorously, use sterile supplies, and avoid touch contamination.
Measure and verify: Calibrate the dose calibrator; confirm activity, volume, and patient ID; document decay corrections accurately.
QC the product: Check radiochemical purity and clarity when applicable; track lot numbers and expirations.
Secure transport and storage: Proper labeling, shielding, and inventory logs; lock it down and track it tightly.
Waste and spill readiness: Segregate waste by half-life, label containers, perform wipe tests, and drill for spills so response is second nature.
How to Display Radiopharmaceutical handling Skills on Your Resume
4. Gamma camera operation
Operating a gamma camera means patient prep, positioning, parameter selection, acquisition monitoring, and immediate troubleshooting—so the resulting images reflect true tracer distribution without avoidable noise or artifacts.
Why It's Important
High-quality images unlock accurate diagnoses. Poor peaking, drifts in uniformity, or the wrong collimator can tank a study before it starts.
How to Improve Gamma camera operation Skills
Daily diligence: Energy peaking, intrinsic and system uniformity floods, bar phantoms—catch issues before patients arrive.
Right collimator, right task: Balance sensitivity and resolution for each study; adjust for patient habitus and clinical question.
Optimize parameters: Energy windows, matrix size, zoom, and acquisition time—tailor them; don’t default blindly.
Leverage SPECT/CT: Use CT-based attenuation correction and localization to boost confidence and reduce equivocal reads.
Maintain relentlessly: Scheduled service, calibration, and software updates keep the system stable; log issues and trends.
Know your hardware: Anger cameras vs CZT systems behave differently; understand detector quirks and strengths.
How to Display Gamma camera operation Skills on Your Resume
5. Radiation safety
Radiation safety encompasses the practices that guard patients, staff, and the environment from unnecessary ionizing radiation while achieving diagnostic or therapeutic aims.
Why It's Important
Exposure carries risk. Safe methods protect health, maintain compliance, and support public trust in nuclear medicine.
How to Improve Radiation safety Skills
Time, distance, shielding: Work swiftly, step back when possible, and use appropriate barriers and syringe shields.
Dosimetry and monitoring: Wear badges correctly, track results, follow declared pregnancy protocols, and act on outliers.
Room and package surveys: Perform and document routine area checks and incoming package surveys; fix problems fast.
Spill preparedness: Keep kits stocked, train the team, and practice response so real events stay controlled.
Education and compliance: Know your site license and local rules; refresh training regularly; close the loop with audits.
How to Display Radiation safety Skills on Your Resume
6. PACS expertise
PACS expertise means you can move images smoothly through the system—store, retrieve, QC, tag correctly, and share securely—while understanding DICOM basics, modalities, and workflow quirks across the imaging chain.
Why It's Important
Clean data in, clean data out. Efficient PACS use speeds care, prevents lost studies, and supports accurate comparison and interpretation.
How to Improve PACS expertise Skills
Master the workflow: Accessioning, modality worklists, routing, hanging protocols—know each hop and where errors creep in.
DICOM literacy: Understand tags, compression, series descriptions, anonymization, and when to reprocess or resend.
Troubleshoot calmly: Connectivity hiccups, failed pushes, mismatched identifiers—build a repeatable playbook with IT.
Data hygiene: Standardize study descriptions, ensure correct laterality and body part, and prevent duplicate MRNs.
Downtime planning: Have a manual workflow ready; reconcile gracefully when systems return.
Security and privacy: Respect access controls, audit trails, and retention requirements; safeguard patient data at every step.
How to Display PACS expertise Skills on Your Resume
7. IV administration
IV administration in nuclear medicine focuses on safe, precise intravenous delivery of radiopharmaceuticals for imaging or therapy.
Why It's Important
Good access, correct dose, steady technique—these drive image quality and reduce repeats, complications, and patient anxiety.
How to Improve IV administration Skills
Identity and indication: Use two identifiers; verify tracer, activity, route, and timing without shortcuts.
Vein choice and technique: Choose an appropriate site and catheter size; stabilize well; confirm patency with a saline flush.
Asepsis always: Hand hygiene, skin prep, sterile supplies, and clean work surfaces reduce infection risk.
Prevent and manage infiltration: Secure the line, watch the injection, communicate what the patient might feel, and document any extravasation promptly.
Patient comfort: Position thoughtfully, explain each step, and use warm packs or topical aids when suitable.
Observe and document: Monitor for reactions; record activity, time, site, lot/expiry, and any events.
How to Display IV administration Skills on Your Resume
8. Quality control
Quality control safeguards accuracy and consistency across equipment, radiopharmaceuticals, and processes—so every study is dependable.
Why It's Important
QC prevents subtle drift into bad data. Caught early, issues stay small; missed, they compromise diagnoses and safety.
How to Improve Quality control Skills
Define the schedule: Daily, weekly, monthly, and annual tests—codify them and stick to the cadence.
Device-specific QC: Dose calibrator (constancy, accuracy, linearity, geometry), well counter, survey meter, and gamma camera uniformity.
Radiopharmaceutical QC: Verify purity and integrity where applicable; document results clearly.
Traceability: Maintain logs, service records, deviations, and corrective actions—auditable and organized.
Peer review culture: Encourage cross-checks, spot audits, and feedback to reduce blind spots.
Close the loop: When something fails, document, correct, and verify effectiveness; update procedures if needed.
How to Display Quality control Skills on Your Resume
9. Anatomy knowledge
Anatomy knowledge underpins accurate targeting, acquisition, and correlation. Knowing normal structures—and their variants—helps separate signal from noise.
Why It's Important
Functional images gain meaning when mapped to anatomy. That alignment elevates interpretations and guides patient care.
How to Improve Anatomy knowledge Skills
Cross-modality study: Correlate nuclear images with CT and MRI to anchor functional findings to structure.
Work from atlases and cases: Review key anatomy landmarks and common variants; study pathology patterns seen in nuclear medicine.
Hands-on reinforcement: During clinical work, verify localization at the console and with fused datasets.
Teach to learn: Present cases to peers; questions expose gaps and sharpen understanding.
Iterate: Revisit tricky regions—head and neck nodes, pelvic anatomy, cardiac segments—until they feel second nature.
How to Display Anatomy knowledge Skills on Your Resume
10. Patient positioning
Patient positioning is the quiet craft behind clear images—precise, comfortable, stable, and tailored to the study.
Why It's Important
Good positioning reduces artifacts, improves localization, and cuts repeat scans. Patients feel safer, and images look better.
How to Improve Patient positioning Skills
Know the target: Understand anatomy and the clinical question; align the field of view accordingly.
Use aids liberally: Cushions, straps, wedges, and arm supports tame motion and ease discomfort.
Coach the patient: Explain breath-holds or quiet breathing; give simple, steady instructions; check in mid-scan.
Customize: Adapt for pediatrics, limited mobility, or pain; build in breaks when feasible without compromising uptake timing.
Verify and adjust: Review localizers or quick previews; fix alignment before committing to a full acquisition.
How to Display Patient positioning Skills on Your Resume
11. Dosimetry calculation
Dosimetry calculation involves selecting and verifying the appropriate activity for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes, applying decay corrections, and documenting with precision.
Why It's Important
Right dose, right time. That balance protects patients while preserving diagnostic utility or therapeutic impact.
How to Improve Dosimetry calculation Skills
Weight- and protocol-based dosing: Use standardized tables and adjust for special populations when indicated.
Accurate decay math: Apply decay factors correctly; time-stamp every step from calibration to administration.
Calibrator confidence: Keep constancy, accuracy, linearity, and geometry testing current; cross-check suspect results.
Therapy awareness: For agents like I-131 or Lu-177, understand fundamentals of patient-specific considerations, exposure precautions, and release criteria.
Document fully: Activity drawn/administered, residual, route, time, lot and expiry—tight records reduce risk and support audits.
How to Display Dosimetry calculation Skills on Your Resume
12. Cross-sectional anatomy
Cross-sectional anatomy is the mental map that links axial, coronal, and sagittal slices to the living patient—essential for PET/CT and SPECT/CT fusion and confident localization.
Why It's Important
Better localization drives better answers. Knowing planes, landmarks, and variants makes fused imaging sing.
How to Improve Cross-sectional anatomy Skills
Systematic review: Trace organs and vasculature across planes; practice with annotated cases.
Landmark drills: Sinuses, skull base, mediastinum, liver segments, retroperitoneum, pelvis—repeat until automatic.
Fused verification: Compare functional hotspots with CT structures; confirm alignment and correct misregistrations.
Case variety: Exposure to oncology, cardiac, and neuro cases sharpens pattern recognition.
Teach-back: Explain findings to peers or trainees; articulation cements knowledge.
How to Display Cross-sectional anatomy Skills on Your Resume
