Lead, Nuclear Medicine Technologist, Full Time

Tell me about a time you had to correct a coworker's radiation safety practice.

What they are checking: Whether they can address a peer directly and respectfully, which is the hardest part of being a working lead.

Describe a spill or contamination event you dealt with, or how you would handle one in the hot lab.

What they are checking: Whether they know to contain, survey, decontaminate and document in that order without panic.

What did you learn in your years as a lead that changed how you run a department?

What they are checking: Whether their five years of lead experience produced real judgment or just seniority.

Your dose calibrator constancy check comes back out of tolerance at 6:45 with a full morning schedule. What do you do?

What they are checking: Whether they will stop and fix a measurement problem rather than push patients through on bad numbers.

You coordinate duty assignments for the other technologists. How do you build a fair schedule when someone calls off?

What they are checking: Whether they can cover patient needs without quietly loading the extra work onto the same person every time.

A patient is worried about the radiation from their scan. How do you explain it to them?

What they are checking: Whether they can calm fear with plain, honest language instead of brushing the concern aside.

Walk me through how you prepare and verify a radiopharmaceutical dose before you inject a patient.

What they are checking: Whether their dose checks are a fixed habit, since a wrong patient or wrong activity is a reportable misadministration.

This lead role also serves as Radiation Safety Officer. What does that job mean to you day to day?

What they are checking: Whether they see radiation safety as ongoing surveys, records and training rather than a title on paper.

How do you handle receiving a radioactive package, from the moment it hits the dock to the moment it is in inventory?

What they are checking: Knowledge of wipe tests, survey readings and logging that IEMA inspectors will check line by line.

Tell me about the daily and periodic quality control you run on a gamma camera and a dose calibrator.

What they are checking: Whether they know which QC tests catch which failures, because the lead owns QC for the whole department.

How do you manage waste and decay-in-storage so your disposal records hold up?

What they are checking: Practical command of storage, labeling and release surveys that keep the hospital in good standing with the state.

How do you verify patient identity and the right exam order before a study, especially with a nervous or confused patient?

What they are checking: Whether they protect against wrong-patient errors even when the patient cannot help much.