JImel Carpenter, CNMT, NCT

It is with great pleasure that I address you as Chair of the NMTCB. My time spent as part of the NMTCB has been some of the most rewarding in my career. I am honored to serve alongside some of the finest nuclear medicine professionals in the world. And although still relatively small, I believe our organization to be one of the finest in existence. The level of expertise, professionalism, and efficiency exhibited by our Board of Directors, administrative staff, and certificants certainly deserves recognition. 

Beginning in 1977, the NMTCB has been an organization truly unique in nature because it has served the needs of its certificants from the perspective of the nuclear medicine technologist. As we celebrate 35 years in existence for our organization, we should definitely remember the contributions as well as sacrifices of those who have volunteered to make the NMTCB a success. Year after year the NMTCB has been able to provide high quality psychometrically sound examinations that have distinguished the most qualified individuals in the field of nuclear medicine technology. I would like to personally thank all those who have served before me in any capacity for the NMTCB, for without even one of those contributions, our success and longevity may have not been possible.

2013 is the year that holds great promise for the NMTCB as well as our profession as a whole. There will certainly be some challenges as healthcare as we know is reinvented through legislative reform. I am optimistic that at the same time there will be many new opportunities created that will benefit those who are forward thinking and motivated to take advantage. As a profession, we have seen more than our fair share of changes over the years, but our resilience and innovation has always kept nuclear medicine technology a vital contributor to healthcare at large. As an organization, the NMTCB actively seeks opportunities to collaborate with partner organizations in relationships that will be mutually beneficial. We are always grateful when given the opportunity share ideas and strategies with like-minded professional organizations.

The NMTCB Board of Directors is consistently making every effort to bring added-value to the certificants who hold our credentials. During an economic climate of uncertainty, the NMTCB has been able to cut costs in many areas and at the same time expanding services available to our certificants. Recently the Board of Directors has made some strategic decisions that should help ensure the viability of our organization for many years to come. Expenditures are thoroughly evaluated, and they are only approved if a tangible return on investment can be expected. The NMTCB places a priority on keeping the costs associated with our credentials as reasonable as possible realizing that everyone may not be in the most desirable of financial positions. It is with great anticipation that I look forward to a time of growth and resurgence not only in our field, but for all areas of healthcare.

One of the considerations I would strongly suggest to NMTCB certificants is that of advanced certifications. With both the NCT and the PET examinations, nuclear medicine professionals have the opportunity to distinguish themselves from the competition when being considered for employment or promotion. These examinations are both available on demand and offered at testing sites around the nation. I can tell you in no uncertain terms that there is a tangible difference for an applicant that has shown the ability to attain the highest levels of competency within their field. I also urge those of you who have earned the advanced certification credentials to first be aware of what is required to maintain your certifications. In addition to being aware, be proactive in meeting the requirements for continued use of the credentials.

The NMAA certification remains a centerpiece of the evolution of the field of nuclear medicine technology. It is undoubtedly one of the most important advancements for our profession. I implore those certificants who desire to return to school and further their education to consider the career choice of becoming a NMAA. Still in its infancy, the field continues to define itself into what it is truly destined to be. The NMTCB believes in the advancement of the profession, and has endeavored to support its growth and development with a high quality and comprehensive examination that includes input from technologists, physicians, educators, and scientists.

The make-up of the NMTCB Board of Directors is constantly changing. I personally feel that this is one of the organization’s greatest assets. There is a constant influx of new ideas and perspectives that fuel our agenda, and make the decisions the Board agrees upon relevant to current practice. I would like to thank David Gilmore, Anne Fisher, and Angela Bruner for their hard work and dedication during their tenure on the Board. Each of these individuals had a great impact on my perception of what it means to be a selfless contributor to the achievement of the goals of the organization. I would also like to welcome new directors Angela Macci Bires and Mary Beth Farrell to the NMTCB Board of Directors. We appreciate their willingness to participate, and the wealth of experience they both bring to the table.

In closing, I would like to say that I am deeply honored to be able to serve our profession in this capacity. I anticipate many positive accomplishments for our organization under the direction of an excellent board of directors, and an outstanding administrative staff in our Atlanta office. The NMTCB as an organization does not take lightly your concerns, or the opportunity to provide support in any way we can.

On June 17, 1977, the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board was incorporated in the State of Delaware.  For more than 35 years since then, the NMTCB has continually provided certification excellence, starting with a paper and pencil nuclear medicine technology certification exam and evolving to computerized adaptive testing and specialty exams in nuclear cardiology, positron emission tomography and, most recently, a certification exam for Nuclear Medicine Advanced Associates.

As the NMTCB continues to learn from the past and look forward to the future, we have, for the first time ever, compiled the story of our humble beginnings and posted them online. Read about how the NMTCB got its start at http://www.nmtcb.org/resources/S2013news.php.

  Dave Perry, CNMT, PET

Thirty-five years and counting! As the NMTCB Board of Directors celebrates its 35^th year of certification excellence and looks forward to the future of nuclear medicine technology, they thought it would be interesting to share a little about how the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board got its start. To read about the origins of the NMTCB and the development of our first examinations, please see our article entitled “NMTCB: 35 Years of Certification Excellence”.

Over the past thirty-five years, the NMTCB has become the premier nuclear medicine technology certification board, certifying more nuclear medicine technologists than any other credentialing agency. As of March 6, 2013, there are 23,790 active Certified Nuclear Medicine Technologists. Of those, 614 also hold NCT Specialty Exam credentials, 596 also hold PET Specialty credentials, and 71 hold both NCT and PET credentials, in addition to being CNMTs. In addition, 91 nuclear medicine, radiography or radiation therapy technologists that are not CNMT certified currently hold active PET credentials, 34 nuclear medicine technologists that are not CNMT certified hold active NCT credentials and 3 from these categories hold both NCT and PET credentials.

Obviously, our success depends upon the people associated with the NMTCB, starting with its board members. The current board is made up of very talented and devoted people from across the spectrum of the field of nuclear medicine technology, including practicing technologists, physicians and scientists, educators, and specialists in nuclear cardiology and PET. The current Board of Directors include Chair J. Carpenter, C. Nielsen, N. DeLoatch, R. Pagnanelli, J. Baldwin, M. Beauvais, A. Foster, D. Gibbons, B. Greenspan, M. Hess Smith, B. Kerr, C. Luckett-Gilbert, G. Passmore and J. Patton, as well as newcomers Mary Beth Farrell and Angela Macci Bires, both of whom are profiled elsewhere in this newsletter.

Recently leaving the board, but certainly leaving their mark of hard work and excellence are David Gilmore, Anne Fisher and Angela Bruner. All told, each of these talented and dedicated individuals work very hard to make the board successful and they all deserve recognition for their efforts.

While on the subject of the Board of Directors, the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board is seeking applicants to serve on the Board of Directors. This is an excellent opportunity to become involved in one of the more challenging and important areas of your profession-establishing standards of professional competency. The four-year term for the newly elected Director begins on January 1, 2014. Applications are available at http://www.nmtcb.org/resources/directorApp.php. Completed applications received by August 15, 2013 will be reviewed at the fall NMTCB Board meeting. Please direct any questions to David Perry, CNMT, PET, Executive Director, at (404) 315-1739 or board@nmtcb.org .

As hard as they work, the board is always looking for technologists and physicians who are interested in contributing to examination development by submitting questions that might be included in future tests. Several people contributed in this way over the past several months including Terry Thomas, Meaghan Klempa, and Stephanie Land, who wrote questions for the entry-level exam; Mark Hyun and Patty Reames, who wrote questions for the NCT; Ada Courtney, Jay Seibert and Martin Schmitt, who wrote questions for the PET exam, and Barbara Cook, Alicia Baldwin and Richard Siska, who wrote questions for the NMAA exam. THANKS to all of you. The NMTCB really appreciates your efforts.

Two more candidates passed the NMAA certification examination in January, bringing the total number of Nuclear Medicine Advanced Associates to eight. Congratulations to our newest NMAA certificants. The next administration of the NMAA exam will be July 13, 2013.

The NMTCB will have an exhibit booth at the SNMMI 2013 Annual Meeting that will be held June 8-12, 2013 in Vancouver, BC. We will also have a booth at ASNC2013 in Chicago, September 26-29, 2013. If you come to either meeting, we would love to have you stop by the NMTCB booth.

  Dave Perry, CNMT, PET

 The Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board (NMTCB) undertook to conduct a fairly comprehensive survey of nuclear medicine technologists during the summer of 2012.

The survey was delivered online and was divided into three primary categories seeking information on demographics, education and training, and job status and salary. Of the more than 23,000 CNMT’s invited to take the survey, almost 4,500 nuclear medicine technologists completed all or part of the online survey for a response rate of about 20%.

For a complete report on the results of this survey of nuclear medicine technologists, please visit our website at http://www.nmtcb.org/resources/2012certsurvey.php

 Cindi Luckett-Gilbert, MHA, CNMT, PET, FSNMTS

Technologist licensure and certification are still on the forefront of many societies and professional organizations. Thus far, Congress has not been as receptive to efforts requiring licensure and certification. The collaboration of various organizations to pass the CARE bill formed what became known as the Alliance for Quality in Medical Imaging and Radiation. After 12 years, co-founder ASRT has announced it will not be an acting participant any longer. ASRT will continue to pursue federal legislation for former CARE bill language as insertion language into any Medicare bill. Both the SNMMI and the ASRT will pursue and support implementation of individual state movements to enact licensure.

The SNMMI has announced a new PET Technologist Scope of Practice. This new document provides a basic role of a non-nuclear medicine technologist who sits for and passes the NMTCB’s PET Specialty Exam. The PET Technologist Scope of Practice lists functions and actions permitted after certification; however one must note that state licensing bodies, state law and regulations, institutional policy and others may prohibit a certified technologist from performing any one of the tasks in the paper. This document can be viewed on the SNMMI’s website:

http://interactive.snm.org/docs/PET_Scope_of_Practice_Clinical_Performance_Standards_1-2013_FINAL.pdf

The nuclear medicine industry is anticipating a technetium-99m shortage in April because the two largest molybdenum-99 reactors supplying the United States will be offline. The Netherlands reactor had gone offline in November for preventative maintenance which led to required repairs extending its downtime. The Netherlands reactor is anticipated to be back online in June. The Canadian reactor, Chalk River, will go down for routine maintenance from mid-March to mid-April. Unfortunately, scheduling for preventative maintenance must be made long in advance and cannot be changed. At this writing, the reactor is expected to be down for two weeks starting April 14, 2013.

Dr. Angela Macci Bires

Dr. Angela Macci Bires is an Associate Professor, Department Head of Health Services and the Program Director of the Bachelor of Science degree in Nuclear Medicine Technology at Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania. After receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in 1980, from Wheeling Jesuit University, Wheeling West Virginia, Dr. Macci Bires has continued to practice as a nuclear medicine technologist as well as an academic. In 1988, while employed as a senior staff technologist and then as a Chief Nuclear Medicine Technologist, Dr. Macci Bires successfully completed and was granted a Masters of Public Management from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Returning to her Alma Mater in 1989, she became the Department Head and Director of the Nuclear Medicine Technology program at Wheeling Jesuit University. She held this academic position until 2006. In 2005, she earned her Doctorate of Education from Duquesne University. She holds both ARRT and NMTCB certifications in nuclear medicine technology.

As the Radiation Safety Officer for Robert Morris University, Dr. Macci Bires is responsible for maintaining all records, documentation and conditions of the nuclear regulatory license as well as the state license for radioactive materials. She has been a Radiation Safety Officer since 1989.

On-going leadership by Dr. Macci Bires can be evidenced by her active participation in both the local and national nuclear medicine professional societies. She has written and presented locally and nationally as well as having published articles in professional journals. She has held many positions, elected as well as appointed, within the local chapter and national levels.

Mary Beth Farrell, CNMT, NCT 

Mary Beth Farrell is the Director of Research and the Director of Accreditation for Nuclear/PET at the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission. She joined the IAC in August 2007. With 27 years of experience in the field of nuclear medicine, Ms. Farrell has worked in a full range of clinical settings, including hospital, research institution, private practice, and industry.

A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Ms. Farrell earned her M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction in 1992. She is board-certified by both the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists and the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board. She also holds the NCT specialty certification. Ms. Farrell has published several book chapters, educational articles, and research manuscripts. She has also lectured widely around the country.

She is an active member of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Technologist Section (SNMMITS), serving on the publications and continuing education committees. Her other affiliations include the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) , the Greater New York Society of Nuclear Medicine Technologist Section (GNYSNMTS) and the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC). She has earned fellowship status in both the SNMMI-TS and ASNC.

She is excited to join the NMTCB board of directors and is committed to enhancing the field of nuclear medicine technology.