Need career advice

[walkingonsunshine]

Could you share some pros and cons about nuclear medicine technologist vs. nursing? My heart is in nursing I think, but I am worried about the physical aspects of it. I know I cannot work the overnight shift, which I am afraid I will have to do being the lowest on the totem pole as I fulfill my commitment to work to repay my tuition from the hospital. Also, it sounds like the program for the NMT is less time intensive. I am not a wimp, I have been dealing with some health issues that make things more difficult. Do nuclear med techs make as much as nurses? My long term plan was to be a NP. How would the physical aspects of the positions of RN vs NP vs NMT compare. How would earnings opportunities for each position compare? Thank you for any thoughts or advice.

[jenni82104]

Actually, I think they make more. Check out www.bls.gov for more info. I believe they make about 56,000 a year.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

here is the link to the information about the nuclear medicine technician career at the bls.gov site

http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos104.htm

and this is the link to the information about rns

http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos083.htm

and lpns http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos102.htm

i had a boyfriend when i was in nursing school who was a radiation technologist. he made the same kind of money as an rn, actually they make more these days. you are always working around radiation and are constantly being checked for your levels you have absorbed. you need to be good in math. you still see patients, but only for brief periods of time. as a nuclear medicine technologist you may be required to take oncall time on weekends and nights. that is not necessarily so with radiation technology as those treatments are scheduled (cancer radiation treatments). nuclear medicine technologist also need to learn how to do iv injections of the nuclear medicine tracers to inject into the patients prior to the scanning they do.