NMTCB REPORT

Danny A. Basso, CNMT, NCT, FSNMTS, Chair, NMTCB

The board of directors of the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board (NMTCB) is pleased to announce the appointment of Stanley J. Kalisch, PhD, to the post of executive director of the NMTCB. Dr. Kalisch brings a great deal of familiarity and expertise to the position, and he comes to the board with a broad background of certification and educational measurement experience. The board is confident that his experience and leadership will help guide us in this rapidly changing environment.

As I reported in the June JNMT, the NMTCB board voted at the spring meeting to eliminate the alternate eligibility route for the entry-level examination by the year 2015. The NMTCB board encourages any individuals who are seeking to qualify for the exam through the alternate eligibility pathway to do so as soon as possible.

Several other changes in eligibility requirements for the entry-level examination became effective in 2007:

• 1) Graduates of approved nuclear medicine technology educational programs must take the entry-level exam within five years of their official graduation date.

• 2) All requirements to sit for the entry-level exam must be completed within the five-year period immediately prior to the candidate's application, including the requirements for alternate eligibility.

• 3) Certificants who let their certification lapse for five years or more must meet current eligibility requirements and must successfully complete the entry-level exam in order to regain their certification.

These changes were made for two important reasons: to limit the amount of time a person could claim to be registry eligible and to assure that the technologists reentering the field have remained current.

PET and Nuclear Cardiology specialty examinations will be held on September 29 and October 6, respectively. We are looking forward to having over 200 individuals sit for each specialty examination. The NCT Exam Committee is moving forward with a plan to provide on-demand testing in 2008. We are still working out the logistics, but are looking forward to being able to provide that service.

The ASRT and the ARRT hosted a CT Consensus Conference in Albuquerque, NM on August 4. It was my honor to represent the NMTCB at this important meeting. It is imperative that imaging professionals come together periodically to discuss our ever-evolving fields. I will discuss the results of the meeting in the next issue of JNMT.