Nuclear Medicine: the Practice Eligibility Route

How training is structured

The Royal College sets out the training for Nuclear Medicine in the blocks below. An internationally trained specialist is assessed on whether their own training and practice record is comparable in structure and content.

Required experiences

Specific experiences the Royal College names for this discipline.

• P1 1.1 Minimum three (3) months Internal Medicine and/or its subspecialties
• P1 1.2 Any combination of surgery, pediatrics, radiation oncology, or pathology, maximum three (3) months in any one area
• P1 1.3 Maximum two (2) months Diagnostic Radiology or Nuclear Medicine
• P1 2. Minimum one (1) and maximum three (3) months clinical Cardiology
• P1 3. Three (3) years Nuclear Medicine: 3.1 general Nuclear Medicine (bone mineral densitometry; tumor imaging with single photon tracers; endocrine, gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary, lymphatic, musculoskeletal, neurologic, pulmonary, renal and genitourinary systems); 3.2 nuclear cardiology (myocardial perfusion — exercise and pharmacological; cardiac function — gated blood pool/first pass); 3.3 PET/CT imaging; 3.4 hybrid imaging (SPECT/CT and PET/CT); 3.5 pediatric nuclear medicine; 3.6 therapeutic nuclear medicine (thyrotoxicosis; thyroid cancer; other, including pain palliation, synovectomy, and targeted cancer therapy)
• P1 4. Six (6) months cross-sectional imaging in Diagnostic Radiology (head, chest, and body CT and MRI)
• P2 2. Three (3) years Diagnostic Radiology; P2 3. Two (2) years Nuclear Medicine (same 3.1–3.6 content); P2 4. One (1) to three (3) months clinical Cardiology within section 1 or 3

Flexible or selective components

Where the requirements allow a choice.

• P1 5. Up to six (6) months selected from one or more of: 5.1 additional training in Nuclear Medicine; 5.2 scholarly activity (research, quality assurance, or educational activity relevant to Nuclear Medicine); 5.3 Diagnostic Radiology; 5.4 Internal Medicine; 5.5 clinical training acceptable to the residency program committee

Common questions

What is the Practice Eligibility Route in Nuclear Medicine?

The Practice Eligibility Route (PER) is the Royal College process by which an internationally trained specialist can be assessed for eligibility to sit the certification examination in Nuclear Medicine without repeating a Canadian residency. The Royal College reads your postgraduate training and practice record against the published Specialty Training Requirements for the discipline.

What training does the Royal College expect in Nuclear Medicine?

The Specialty Training Requirements describe pathway 1: Five (5) years of approved residency training. Pathway 2 (in association with Diagnostic Radiology): a minimum of six (6) years. The full block-by-block structure is set out on this page, taken from the Royal College document for this discipline.

Does meeting the training requirements guarantee eligibility?

No. Eligibility is a committee decision made on your individual file, and other factors are considered. This page reproduces the published requirements so you can see how your own training compares before you apply; it is not an eligibility ruling.

Where do I start?

Read the six steps in the PER guide, then have your training mapped against the Specialty Training Requirements before you pay any fees. The free PDF for this specialty carries the steps, the document checklist, and the Nuclear Medicine requirements in one file.

More on the route itself: the full PER guide covers the six steps and the document checklist. Royal College examination dates for every discipline are on the Deadline Radar, and Canadian clinical fellowships in Nuclear Medicine are in the Fellowship Finder.