How much does the Moly generator weigh?
I'll tell you right now though. Nuclear Pharmacy only represents ~1% of pharmacist jobs. I believe recently the number of jobs have been reduced due to a recent movement towards a certain type of nuclear pharmacy practice. You'll have your work cut out for you in terms of finding a job in this field.
You're right in that, if you want to obtain a job in this field, you're going to have to be proactive. While a rotation at a nuclear pharmacy is definitely a step you'll want tot take, you're going to want to obtain a tech or intern job with a nuclear pharmacy (but good luck sorting the hours with them. They'll mostly want you overnight).
Thank you for the tips, TheBlaah.
Below is a brainstorm of possible options for acquiring the hours, affording the course, and scheduling and availability sorting; a question; and a possible answer to your previous question.
Our school requires 7 six-week rotations consisting of five required and two electives. To my understanding, I will need
two six-week elective rotations in Nuclear Pharmacy to allocate the amount of hours necessary (480 hours if attending 40 hours per week); If I decide to take the rotation route, I will have to figure out how to squeeze in the other 20 hours to the total of 500. The Authorized Use (AU) training through a specific program (UAMS, Purdue, or the UNM NEO course) is also required with a hefty fee (between $7200 and $7800 depending on the program), which makes up the 200 (or more) didactic hours in addition to the 500 practice hours. A pharmacist's salary could front the cost of the AU after graduation, but so could financial aid now as well as the option of the potential employer fronting the cost of training. In my case as a student, it is not so much sorting the hours as it is landing the position and maintaining the workload (and sanity) during the PY3 year (assuming such a position is earned/acquired by August). There is also the issue of having those hours logged in as preceptor hours rather than paid hours, assuming both are separate. The PY3 Fall schedule is already out and I am already reviewing previous material and moving into PY3 material.
For our PY3 year practice experiences, our school has a
summer block rotation schedule as well as a
winter block rotation schedule as options where each student has 60 hours of training in 5 weeks each block. Blocks 1, 2, and 3 are chosen at random and are the first five weeks, the second five weeks, and the third five weeks of each semester. If both summer and winter block can be acquired in the same year (fingers crossed), the hours can be sorted throughout the PY3 year as follows:
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights and weeknights (9 pm-7 am depending upon employer availability) throughout the PY3 year up until rotations.
Also, when you mention "a recent movement towards a certain type of nuclear pharmacy practice," what type of nuclear pharmacy practice are you referring to? Also, so this conversation does not take up this thread, how can I contact you or who can you refer me to discuss such issues?
To answer your question, I lifted the lead sealing the Technetium-99m. The job description to most Nuclear Pharmacy Technician positions say one must lift over 80 lbs. Therefore, the weight of the generator must be greater than that, not including the elution components. Plus, I will have to maintain consistent and strong stamina throughout each shift.
FYI: This is my last summer break before rotations. You are right, though; I have my work cut out for me. This is going to be fun.
