Clinical Rotations
The Nuclear Medicine Physician-in-Training is expected to be physically present at the assigned rotation Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or until the work is completed or signed out to the on-call resident.
These are on a four week block basis, alternating between the VA, Vanderbilt, PET/CT, and nuclear cardiology. Time in the in-vitro lab and radiopharmacy must and should be arranged when adequate cross coverage is available.
- Review the QC floods for each camera each day.
- Review of the schedule and requests for nuclear medicine procedures in the morning.
- Obtain relevant clinical information from the computerized medical record and the patient and/or the referring physician in order to evaluate the appropriateness of the study. If the procedure ordered does not appear to be the most appropriate, communicate with the referring physician.
- Prescribe appropriate radiopharmaceuticals and dose for each patient.
- Assist the technologist to perform the procedure when needed.
- Review the final images with the technologist before the patient leaves the department.
- Correlate the nuclear medicine image findings with other diagnostic studies (nuclear medicine, radiology, pathology, etc.).
- Formulate a preliminary interpretation and differential diagnosis for each patient.
- Review each procedure with the nuclear medicine faculty for final interpretation.
- Dictate the final report on all patients from that day.
- Communicate the reports to the referring physician when appropriate.
- Edit the transcribed reports as necessary.
- Provide coverage for conscious sedation (for PET- CT).
At all times and for each rotation, a nuclear medicine faculty member is available for help and identified on the monthly nuclear medicine schedule.
