Harness radionuclides to diagnose and treat disease

Nuclear medicine technologists use radionuclides and advanced medical imaging techniques to aid the diagnosis of common human diseases such as cancer and heart disease. Responsibilities include patient care, radiopharmaceutical administration and critical analysis of images and data.

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Nuclear medicine technologists use sophisticated technology and work directly with patients to provide diagnostic information to the nuclear medicine physician.

The following patients could benefit from a nuclear medicine procedure:

• A 21-year-old athlete suffers from lower leg pain after running. The regular X-ray appears to be normal but the nuclear medicine procedure shows early bone repair caused by a recent hairline fracture.
• The 40-year-old female patient with breast cancer who undergoes an investigation to see if there has been a metastatic spread to her bones.

Clinical & professional fieldwork
A number of clinical and professional fieldwork opportunities are scheduled as part of your course. This will give you the hands on experience with real clients in a supervised environment to allow you to combine the academic sections of your course with the practical abilities required of the nuclear medicine profession. Some of the clinical and professional fieldwork sites that students have attended previously include:

• Burwood Nuclear Medicine
• Children's Hospital, Westmead
• Illawarra Regional Hospital, Wollongong
• Mount Sinai Medical Centre, NY, USA
• Royal Melbourne Hospital
• Royal North Shore Hospital
• St Andrew's Hospital, Brisbane
• Symbion Imaging, Westmead

There are a number of essential requirements that students need to prepare for before attending any site for clinical and professional fieldwork. Further information on these and more is available at our Clinical & Professional Fieldwork website.

Commonwealth Supported Places
The Faculty has a number of Commonwealth Supported Places available for this program. These places offer a considerable reduction in fees and are awarded to applicants who rank highest in their Grade Point Average. You will be notified with your offer if you qualify for a Commonwealth Supported Place.

Course completion requirements

96 credit points: students are to complete as required the core, elective and general elective units of study shown in the Table of units of study for the award as set out in the Faculty of Health Sciences handbook.

On campus attendance pattern

Full time

End qualification

Master of Nuclear Medicine

Professional recognition

Graduates are eligible for provisional accreditation with the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nuclear Medicine. To practice in Australia, all graduates must complete a twelve-month internship (‘Professional Development Year’) in an approved hospital or practice before full accreditation is granted.

Similar courses

B.App.Sc.(MRS) Diag.Rad. (SH116)|M.D.R. (SC131)|M.R.T. (SC135)

Course structure

Course level

Master by Coursework (Undifferentiated)

Honours availability

Additional honours course

Handbook website link

http://www.usyd.edu.au/handbooks/handbooks_admin/health_science.shtml