The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) has asked the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to formally recognize nuclear medicine technologists as professionals.
In an August 12 letter, the SNMMI encouraged the OMB to change how the job is listed under the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification System. Currently, the position is classified under the Health Technologists and Technicians section; the SNMMI has asked the OMB to classify it under the Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations section and proposed a new title, “Nuclear Medicine Technologist and Therapist.”
“This new title would clearly delineate the difference between a technician, someone who is not responsible for the diagnosis and treatment of patients, and a technologist, someone who has the education, training, experience and critical thinking to perform diagnostic and therapeutic procedures on patients and to be fully integrated in the patients’ management teams,” the SNMMI stated.
The change would help formalize the status of these individuals within the healthcare industry, the SNMMI said.
