ABNM position statement: Nuclear medicine professional competency and scope of practice

This document is not meant to be an all-inclusive list of everything that encompasses the field of nuclear medicine, which is ever changing, nor is it a list of topics and knowledge required to pass a certification or MOC examination. Nuclear medicine program requirements and the ABNM examination content manual are available on the ACGME Web site (http://www.acgme.org/ acWebsite/RRC-200/200-prIndex.asp) and the ABNM Web site (http://www.abnm.org/ contmanual.pdf), respectively. New requirements for ACGME nuclear medicine program residency go into effect on July 1, 2011. The ABNM uses these as reference guides; however, the ABNM examinations are written by the 12 experts who make up the ABNM and have years of different experiences in academic and community practices. To take the certification examination, the physician's program director must first document that a resident has successfully completed the residency training. The certification examination emphasizes basic science and the clinical knowledge and understanding acquired during residency that allow one to be prepared to competently practice nuclear medicine. The MOC examination is similar except that it emphasizes present-day clinical practice. Future MOC examinations may be modular so that practitioners can be tested in the areas of nuclear medicine that are most relevant to their clinical practice - for example, general nuclear medicine, hybrid imaging, cardiovascular nuclear medicine, and therapy.