The American Board of Nuclear Medicine (ABNM) certifies physicians as specialists in the practice of nuclear medicine. Diplomates of the ABNM are called nuclear medicine physicians. The ABNM is one of the 24 member boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS).
Nuclear medicine procedures use the tracer principle, most often radioactive tracers called radiopharmaceuticals, to evaluate molecular, metabolic, physiologic, and pathologic conditions for diagnosis, therapy, and research. Nuclear medicine procedures are the major clinical applications of molecular imaging and molecular therapy.
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The American Board of Nuclear Medicine is the primary certifying organization for nuclear medicine in the United States. The Board serves the public through assurance of high quality patient care by establishing standards of training, initial certification, and continuing competence of physicians providing nuclear medicine diagnostic and therapeutic services. [1]
A physician certified by the American Board of Nuclear Medicine has
The American Board of Medical Specialties has a free website where certification of physicians can be confirmed, and where certified physicians can be found by geographic location.
Maintenance of Certification (MOC), is a program of continuing education and evaluation for the diplomates of all member boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties.[4] Initial certification documents a physicians initial competence; Maintenance of Certification documents a commitment to remaining up-to-date. The American Board of Nuclear Medicine's MOC program has four parts.[5]
Nuclear medicine is a technology embedded medical specialty depending upon
The components of professional competence for nuclear medicine physicians include a basic understanding of all of these underlying sciences as well as a thorough understanding of their medical application.[6] The program requirements for nuclear medicine residencies also include all of these elements.[7]
The American Board of Nuclear Medicine certifies individual nuclear medicine physicians. The nuclear medicine review committee[8] of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education[9] (ACGME) certifies nuclear medicine residency training programs. The Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM),[10] the major nuclear medicine scientific and professional organization, provides continuing education and self-assessment modules that can be used to fulfill the lifelong learning and self-assessment requirement of MOC, and the SNM is developing material for performance in practice evaluation.
The American College of Nuclear Physicians (ACNP) represents the practice and socio-economic interests of those engaged in the use of radionuclides.[11]
A closely related board, the American Board of Radiology (ABR), is another member of the American Board of Medical Specialties. The ABR certifies radiologists who also practice nuclear medicine.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) or associated state regulatory agencies oversee radiation safety associated with radioactive, by-product material. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees the radiopharmaceuticals used by nuclear medicine.
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