Curriculum and Rotation

Curriculum Overview
The 13-month program (53 instructional weeks) provides students with a comprehensive body of knowledge and the necessary skills expected of a competent program graduate. The curriculum provides skills for a lifetime of continued learning, rewarding careers, and the ability to become leaders in the nuclear medicine community. The program also gives graduates the ability to obtain dual certification in Nuclear Medicine and CT. 
​​

Fall/Winter Semester

• Diagnostic Nuclear Imaging Clinical Practicum I
• Clinical Nuclear Medicine Procedures I
• Management and Methods of Patient Care I
• Radiation Safety and Protection
• Radiation Physics and Instrumentation
• Clinical Correlation – Pathology

 
Spring/Summer Semester

• Diagnostic Nuclear Imaging Clinical Practicum II
• Clinical Nuclear Medicine Procedures II
• Management and Methods of Patient Care II
• Radionuclide Chemistry and Radiopharmacy
• Radiation Detection and Instrumentation
• Computed Tomography and Cross Sectional Anatomy
• Radiation Biology
• Medical Terminology

Clinical Rotations
The curriculum includes supervised clinical education, which offers a sufficient and well-balanced variety of nuclear medicine procedures, examinations and equipment. Various rotations include:

• Nuclear cardiology imaging rooms
• General nuclear medicine imaging rooms
• SPECT/CT 
• PET/CT
• CT 
• PET/MRI
• Radiopharmacy
• Radiation Safety 
• Computer Processing
• Reading Rooms
• Quality Control
• Additional clinical education will be obtained at Lurie Children's Hospital, Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital, and Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital.

Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)
The Nuclear Medicine program requires that all students maintain satisfactory academic progress throughout enrollment. A student maintains SAP if their cumulative (overall) and current (most recent term) grade point averages are 2.0 or better. A student must also maintain a minimum average score of 75% in all clinical and didactic courses and achieve a final course grade of 75% in all clinical and didactic courses. Students must also adhere to the clinical competency plan per the course syllabi, maintain satisfactory performance pace (completion of all attempted courses), and comply with all institutional and program policies. Student performance against SAP standards will be monitored in an ongoing manner throughout clinical and didactic activities with evaluation at the end of each term. A grade for each course will be issued at the end of the term.
​
​Program Delivery
The Nuclear Medicine Technology program utilizes a blended format in that some courses, assessments, and assignments are delivered using an online learning management system.

​Program Hours
This is a full time program with on-site attendance required at the Chicago campus and other clinical rotation sites. The program is scheduled for eight hours a day, five days per week.

Students will be off six regular holidays per year. Those are:

• New Year's Day
• Memorial Day
• Independence Day
• Labor Day
• Thanksgiving Day
• Christmas

There will be a one-week holiday break from the end of December through early January each year. 
 
The program begins annually in August and ends in August of the following year.