Trends in American nuclear medicine training: Past, present, and future

As soon as the capability to produce radioactive atoms was achieved in the 1930s, physician-scientists gravitated as apprentices toward important rese arch centers, such as those at Berkeley. Washington University, and Massach usetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.)/Massachusetts General Hospital. Aft er World War II. Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) trained many of t he founders of the specialty of nuclear medicine. The initial ORAU preparat ory course lasted only 3 weeks. Over the 20 years after World War II. only 100 to 200 physicians had learned radioisotopic techniques and their clinic al applications from their older preceptors. The founding of the conjoint A merican Board of Nuclear Medicine in 1971 (cosponsored by the American Boar ds of Internal Medicine. Pathology, and Radiology) marked a new era in cert ifying the quality of graduates of a growing number of nuclear medicine res idency programs. Future trends in nuclear medicine education include the fo llowing: greater availability of jobs for physicians with board certificati on in radiology and nuclear medicine; an increased emphasis on training in positron-emission tomography (PET); and recertification and documentation o f maintenance of professional competence as certainties. Copyright (C) 2000 by W.B. Saunders Company.