Nuclear medicine - superdoc2008

[ArchivalUser]

So what is the status of nuclear med ? I mean is it a relatively tough or very residency to get in ? What are the requirements ?

[ArchivalUser]

Nuclear med in the US for PGY-1: There is one spot every other year. You can find the name of the program with Frieda and go to their website for requirements.

In the meantime here are the stats from the 2007 match.

http://www.nrmp.org/advancedata2007.pdf

[ArchivalUser]

my friends both got nukes as pgy-2. it is very easy to get i believe. i believe every img applying for rads needs to apply to nukes as back up.

for rads i know mt. sinai in miami beach is img friendly. i did my observership there. i like psych and went into that.

[ArchivalUser]

I think the OP is wondering what your friends did for PGY-1. Because, while he can apply to PGY-2 spots in the match at the same time (nuclear med for PGY-2 and a PGY-1 prelim or transitional year) .... which route did your friends take? You still have to complete a PGY-1 somewhere even though you are applying a year in advance for the nuclear med spot, no?

It's my understanding that the preliminary and transitional year spots are the ones that are tough to get, unless you are trying for surgery prelim.

Anybody?

[ArchivalUser]

one did IM and then changed his mine realizing he wanted a life. the other did transistional. nukes does not pay as much as rads but pays more than IM. i would say over 200k. not many people know of this field. i recommend people to read "how to choose a medical speciality" by mr. freeman. great book.

[ArchivalUser]

oh ya. my friend who did IM did not apply. he saw an opening and called them. he went for the iv and they took him on the spot. my other friend i think applied after he got a transitional year. perhaps even a year of family will work.

[ArchivalUser]

So can Nuclear med be taken only as a PGY2 , is there any way to get it straight away, I mean without the hassles of going through prelim med or transitional year ?

[ArchivalUser]

I know it is too late, but might be helpful for someone else. Yes, clinical prelim year is mandatory for nuclear medicine. But if one did an internship in his/her home country, one can get credit for that without need to do prelim in US. I guess for someone nuc residency is better than no residency.

[ArchivalUser]

Where did you read this? Any links stating that your home country internship will be recognized? I thought you need to do Prelim 1 yr internship regardless similar to other residencies like anesthesiology etc

[ArchivalUser]

a lot of nuclear medicine programs are being absorbed into radiology because its becoming more impossible to find a job. its such a small niche and radiologists can easily do those reads, as well as all other types of reads. if your goal is to stay and work in the u.s. based on this residency, then this is not what you should be aiming for. if you only want to get trained in nuclear medicine and go to another country to practice with that training then go ahead