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Nuclear Pharmacy

Think in the nuclear pharmacy as career could cause a little of fair between people, over all we related to radiation. However is important know that the radiation is part of daily lives and it is presented in different ways, for example: the electromagnetic radiation that comes to the sun or the signals sent by radio and TV stations to the radar used in track airplanes. Actually is one of the more rewarding careers in many countries.

Nuclear pharmacy since 1978 is a pharmacy specialty established by the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties (BPS) so close related to nuclear medicine procedures and involves the compounding and dispensing of radioactive materials to treat specific diseases.

Nuclear pharmacists are also known as Radiopharmacists, and they must be able to develop some skills like working in team, capacity of solve problems, autonomy and helping people specially with other professionals that working in cooperation with them like Radiopharmaceuticals.

The work performance as nuclear pharmacy covers two environments:

Inside an institutional nuclear pharmacy where the preparations are made on hospitals
Or inside commercial centralized nuclear pharmacy where later the radiopharmacists will be the complement for the radiopharmaceuticals

The requirements for a nuclear pharmacist career:

License of being pharmacist with a degree as Pharm-D, Doctor of Pharmacy or a Bachelor of Science.
Have years of experience working in a laboratory related to the career.
Complete one or two year residency in a specialized lab.

Generally the training that receives professionals in the nuclear pharmacy field includes:

Training in the basic radioisotope handling techniques with lectures and laboratory sessions in areas such as radiation physics, mathematics of radioactivity, radiation biology and radiopharmaceutical chemistry.
Training in all process related to handling d radioactive material: order, receive, survey and unpack radioactive materials safely, calibration of dose calibrators, scintillation detectors, as well as calculate, prepare and calibrate the patients doses.

In fact working as nuclear pharmacist includes a potential exposure to radiation but with a minimum of care in the use of syringes, gloves, leaded glass shielding and other radioactive devices you will be protected.

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