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Professional certification is a vital component of a successful career. Achieving board certification in nuclear cardiology technology requires the successful completion of the certification process to confirm your competence in the specialty. The certification process includes meeting the eligibility requirements and then successfully completing the certification examination.

These instructions will familiarize you with the NMTCB's application and examination administration procedures. It is important that you understand and follow the procedures outlined in these instructions. Read them entirely and carefully before completing and submitting your application. You are responsible for knowing what is contained in these instructions. You will be more comfortable at the test site if you first familiarize yourself with the procedures and policies relating to the examination. Refer to these instructions for reference and contact the NMTCB office at the address at the bottom of this page if you have any questions. The NMTCB application and instructions are revised and printed annually to reflect changes in policies and eligibility requirements. It is important that you complete and return the current application form.

The NMTCB does not discriminate against any individual on the basis of age, sex, race, religion, physical impairment, marital status, or national origin.

The NMTCB follows current policy on eligibility requirements. For current policy click here.

The NMTCB Nuclear Cardiology Technology Specialty Examination will be available on-demand beginning in February 2008.

The cardiology specialty exam will be administered nationally by ACT, Inc. Once your application has been approved, you will be notified of your eligibility and the locations of testing centers in your area. Please note that there are currently no testing centers in Canada or Puerto Rico.

Read all instructions listed here carefully before completing the application form. Incomplete applications delay processing and may affect eligibility. You must print the application form from the web page, and submit it by fax or postal mail to the NMTCB office.

The NMTCB will make every reasonable effort to accommodate applicants for the Certification Examination who have a disability as that term is defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. An applicant who wishes to request modifications in the environment because of a disability must notify the NMTCB in writing at the time of application and provide appropriate documentation about the disability and the needed modification. Upon receipt of a request for modifications in the testing environment, the NMTCB office will provide detailed guidelines concerning the required documentation to be submitted. The supporting documentation must be submitted in sufficient time to make proper arrangements to take the examination under conditions which will accurately reflect the applicant's achievement level. Requests for modifications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

If you have previously unsuccessfully taken the NMTCB Nuclear Cardiology Technology Specialty Examination, your application will remain on file with the NMTCB. Eligible candidates may repeat the examination by reactivating their eligibility with a written request to the NMTCB along with the current processing fee. A candidate may take the exam a maximum of two times within a 12 calendar month period. For re-examination, the eligibility criteria must still be met (current NMTCB, ARRT(N) or CAMRT nuclear medicine certification). It may be necessary for you to document that you have completed additional preparation if deemed by the NMTCB to be in the best interest of all concerned. Applicants who were determined ineligible to take the examination, but who later meet the current eligibility requirements, may reapply, pay the current processing fee and reactivate their application.

When reactivating your eligibility, your request should include your current name, the name used on your original application (if changed), NMTCB specialty exam file number, address and phone number, and date of last examination in your request.

If you change your name or address after submitting your application, you must inform the NMTCB in writing immediately. If the NMTCB is not promptly notified, you may not receive your eligibility letter to take the examination, your official score report and certification card may be delayed and your certificate may be incorrectly prepared, resulting in a replacement cost. Your cooperation will ensure the most expeditious receipt of your NMTCB Cardiology certificate.

If you lose your eligibility letter, please contact the NMTCB office immediately for a replacement letter.

Send your completed application with a check or money order, or credit card information (Visa or MasterCard) for the examination processing fee of $225.00 to:

If you are a NMTCB Certificant, and are paying by credit card, you may fax the application form to (404) 315-6502.

Applications are processed in the order received.

Once the NMTCB has received your completed application and fees, the acknowledgement card included in the application packet will be mailed back to you. Acknowledgement does not imply eligibility to sit for the examination. If you have not received this card within three weeks after you submitted the application, please contact the NMTCB office for instructions.

Once the NMTCB has received a complete application, it is processed. Verification of the candidate's clinical experience is determined by a letter sent to their human resources department, immediate supervisor or supervising physician. These verification letters must be returned to the NMTCB office in a timely manner to ensure the candidate's eligibility. All of your credentials and experience must be verified or you may be determined ineligible to take the examination.

You will be notified by letter, telephone, or facsimile of any discrepancies between the information provided on your application and the information the NMTCB is able to verify. Any unresolved discrepancies may cause you to be determined ineligible to sit for the examination and result in postponement of your examination or permanent disqualification.

Your name will be given to ACT as an eligible candidate. You will be mailed an admission letter that will instruct you to call ACT to set up your testing appointment. The admission letter will be used to admit you to the test site.

You will be notified in writing of any item(s) necessary to complete your file. All completed materials must be received by the NMTCB office in a timely manner or you will be determined ineligible. Ineligible applicants will be notified of the circumstances regarding the ineligibility determination.

You are expected to make an appointment and appear for the examination. To change your appointment time or to cancel without penalty, follow these instructions:

You may change or cancel your apointment by contacting the ACT Call Center at 1-800-205-6366 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. central time. If your scheduled appointment is for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday, you must cancel the appointment 48 hours prior to the appointment time. If your scheduled appointment is for a Monday or Tuesday, you must cancel the appointment by 8 p.m. central time Friday prior to the appointment time. It is your responsibility to cancel the appointment within the guidelines. Keep a record of the date, time and the name of the person handling the call.

NOTE: If a holiday occurs during the normal cancellation period, this schedule adjusts to define "timely cancellation" as one day earlier.

There may be delays in scheduling due to testing volume. It is to your advantage to schedule your appointment soon after receiving your authorization letter.

Requests for withdrawal of an application that are received by the NMTCB office will result in total forfeiture of the exam application fee.

Checks returned by the bank to the NMTCB office for any reason are subject to a $25.00 returned check fee. The returned check fee and the replacement fee must be submitted in certified funds only (money order, cashier's check, etc.). A personal check cannot be accepted as replacement. All NMTCB financial obligations must be met before the eligibility letter is sent.

1. Active NMTCB, ARRT(N) or CAMRT nuclear medicine technology certification.
2. Clinical Experience as a certified/registered nuclear medicine technologist in nuclear medicine for a minimum of two years full-time (4,000 hours)

The NMTCB Nuclear Cardiology Technology designation is valid for seven (7) years from the exam date. Certificants may apply to sit for re-certification according to the eligibility requirements in place at the time of the application.

TEST SITES

The NMTCB Specialty examinations are offered through ACT Centers. These centers are managed by ACT, Inc. of Iowa City, Iowa. A list of the testing centers and their locations is available to NMTCB candidates on the ACT website www.act.org/actcenters/.

ADMISSION TO THE TEST SITE

Procedures have been established to ensure that examination integrity and security are maintained:

1. You must show your authorization letter to the examination supervisor and have your signature verified by the examination supervisor;
2. You must provide current, valid photo identification bearing your signature. Examples are a valid driver's license, government (including state) issued identification card or passport;
3. Your name and social security number will be verified against the examinee roster and the examination supervisor will assign you a computer carrel.
4. All computer carrels are clearly visible by test site personnel. You will be monitored as you take the examination. If you have questions during the tutorial,test site personnel can assist you. Once the examination has started, test site personnel cannot answer any questions.
5. Computer experience is NOT necessary for an individual to be able to complete the examination. A practice tutorial will guide the candidate in answering sample questions. The candidate will be able to use the keyboard or a mouse to signify an answer.
6. You cannot skip an answer to a question, but you are able to mark a question for later review. You may also change answers.

EXAMINATION FORMAT

The NMTCB Cardiology specialty examination consists exclusively of 4-option multiple choice items. Each item includes a keyed (correct) response and 3 distractors (incorrect responses). A large percentage of the items are written by Board Certificants. The remainder are written by NMTCB Certificants who voluntarily submit items. Once items are submitted to the Board, each item undergoes a series of quality control measures. Board Certificants thoroughly review newly written items for appropriateness and accuracy of the content, potential candidate bias, the quality of any images used, and other psychometric issues related to the language/grammar and test-wiseness.

EXAMINATION SECURITY

The NMTCB Nuclear Cardiology Technology Examination is copyrighted and owned by the NMTCB. Any attempt to reproduce any portion of the examination is prohibited by law and violators will be vigorously prosecuted.

Calculators are allowed only if they are noiseless and battery or solar-powered. No provisions or time will be allowed or given to repair or replace broken calculators. You may not share calculators. Calculators capable of storing text (i.e., a key for every letter in the alphabet) will not be allowed. You will be observed at all times while taking the examination. This includes direct observation by the exam proctors.

The NMTCB values and welcomes your opinions and comments on the examination facilities, examination application and administration procedures, and the examination itself. Following the examination, you will be given an opportunity to make comments. All comments are later summarized and presented to the Board of Directors. In addition, you may send a letter of concern by writing the NMTCB office directly and referring to the examination date, examination site, and specific issue(s) of concern. If you have comments about particular examination questions, please try to restate the question as accurately as possible in the letter to the NMTCB office. The Board of Directors will review all comments and send a reply, if possible.

1. Take your admission letter with you. Bring at least one current (not expired) piece of photo identification, such as a driver's license or passport. No examination candidate will be admitted to the examination site without proper identification.
2. Report to the examination site at least fifteen (15) minutes before the exam. Candidates who arrive late will not be allowed to take the examination. Visitors are not allowed in the immediate area of the examination site.
3. You will have two and a half hours to complete the exam. Plan your time carefully. You are encouraged to bring a wristwatch. The examination consists of 100 multiple-choice questions and 25 pretest items.
4. Calculators are allowed only if they are noiseless and battery or solar-powered. No provisions or time will be allowed or given to repair or replace broken calculators. You may not share calculators. Calculators capable of storing text (i.e., a key for each letter of the alphabet) will not be allowed by test site personnel.
5. Do not bring notes, books, or papers of any kind.
6. If you find that you will not be able to take the NMTCB Cardiology Exam, contact the NMTCB office immediately at (404) 315-1739 and then notify the NMTCB in writing of your reasons. A
7. If you move after taking the examination, notify the NMTCB office promptly to ensure timely receipt of your results. Be sure to file a forwarding order with the post office.
8. Your scores will be available immediately following the examination. No examination results will be given over the telephone under any circumstances.
9. A comment section is provided at the end of the examination. After you have finished, we encourage you to comment on the examination, examination site, test site personnel, or any aspect of our credentialing program.
10. If you need to leave the room during the examination, all examination materials must be surrendered to the test site supervisor until your return. You may not make up lost time. Only one examinee at a time may leave the room.
11. Notify the test site supervisor in case of sudden illness. If you withdraw from the examination due to illness, your examination will be scored.
12. When you have finished the exam, you may leave the facility; however, once you leave you will not be allowed to re-enter the facility or review your completed exam.

The NMTCB Nuclear Cardiology Technology Examination uses the following exam matrix:

1. Nuclear Medicine Imaging Procedures (~50%)
   
   • myocardial perfusion (~38%)
   • equilibrium radionuclide angiogram, first pass studies (~8%)
   • Cardiac PET (~4%)
2. Anatomy/Physiology/Pathology (~10%)
   
3. Radiopharmaceuticals and Interventional Drugs (~15%)
   
4. Non-pharmacologic (Exercise) Stress Testing (~15%)
   
5. Patient Care (~10%)
   

The NMTCB Nuclear Cardiology specialty exam is a computer-based test. Only one answer may be selected for each question. Your final test score and individual responses to each item will be forwarded to the NMTCB immediately following the exam.

The passing score is determined for each examination based on the following:

• Examination Content
• A review of examination performance on specific questions
• A review of statistical analysis of response data

Using these methods, the Examination Committee is able to take into account the difficulty of each version of the examination (and the ability of each group examined) to provide consistency in the passing score among different forms of the examination. To ensure confidentiality, scores will not be reported over the phone.

Strict quality control procedures are performed to ensure the accuracy of the optical scanner and the scores reported. You may have your answer sheet manually re-scored for a fee. All requests for re-scoring must be made in writing within sixty (60) days of receipt of the original score report. You must include the re-scoring fee of $50.00 made out to the NMTCB. Re-scoring seldom changes reported score results.

Passing the NMTCB Nuclear Cardiology Technology Examination entitles you to certain privileges and obligates you to fulfill certain responsibilities. These are summarized below:

CERTIFICATE: The most immediate benefit of certification is your certificate which will be mailed to you approximately eight (8) weeks after successful completion of the examination.

CREDENTIALS: Upon certification, you will also be granted the right to use the title, Nuclear Cardiology Technologist and the credential NCT after your name.

ANNUAL CERTIFICATION CARD: A personalized pocket-size annual certification card will be mailed to you after you receive your examination results. Most certificants carry the card with them. The certification card is a convenient method to provide your employer, governmental agencies and others with documentation that you are certified and registered in nuclear cardiology technology. An updated certification card will be mailed to you annually upon payment of the annual registration fees.

DIRECTORY LISTING: The names of all currently registered certificants are listed in the "NMTCB Directory of Certified Nuclear Medicine Technologists", on the NMTCB website. The directory is made available only to other NMTCB and NCT certificants.

NMTCB NEWSLETTER: The NMTCB NEWS, published semi-annually, is provided to all certificants of nuclear medicine technology and nuclear cardiology technology. NMTCB NEWS covers topics of concern to certified technologists, trends in NMT education, developments in health care, nationwide salary comparisons, and other professional information.

CE CREDITS: 24 SNM VOICE credits are awarded for passing the Nuclear Cardiology Exam. If you are not a member of the Society of Nuclear Medicine, contact them at 703-708-9000 or www.snm.org to join.

Examinees that pass the NMTCB cardiology examination are eligible for 24 Category A Continuing Education Credits through the ARRT.

ANNUAL REGISTRATION: Perhaps the greatest responsibility of certification is annual registration. Once you are certified by the NMTCB, you remain certified for seven years. Your certification cannot be revoked without due process. It is necessary for you to register your certification annually with the NMTCB. Your annual registration fee pays for the privileges you enjoy as an NMTCB Nuclear Cardiology Technologist. More importantly, your annual registration fee supports the certification process for nuclear medicine professionals, thereby enhancing the profession of nuclear cardiology technology.

Every effort is made to ensure that the NMTCB examination procedures are reasonable and that fair and equitable treatment is accorded to all applicants. To ensure fairness and a right of redress in the evaluation and processing of applications, examination procedures, and certification activities, the Directors of the NMTCB have established a formal appeals procedure which you must follow for appeal of any NMTCB policy, requirement, or decision.

If you are dissatisfied with or adversely affected by any action or decision of the administration of the NMTCB, you have the right to appeal such action or decision. If you wish to appeal any action or decision, your appeal must follow these guidelines:

1. Appeals shall: (a) be in writing; (b) be signed by you; (c) be addressed to the Board of Directors; (d) state the date and substance of the decision or action being appealed; (e) give the reasons why the decision or action is being challenged; and (f) specify what decision or action you seek.
2. No appeal will be considered unless received by the Board within sixty (60) days after the decision being appealed. A check for the appropriate monies must be enclosed, in certain cases.
3. Upon receipt of an appeal, the Executive Director of the NMTCB may reconsider the decision or action being appealed, and with consent from either the Chairman of the Board or the Committee responsible for the action being appealed, reverse or modify the action or decision. You will be notified of the reversal of modification of the decision or action. Unless so reversed or modified to your satisfaction, the Executive Director shall transmit the appeal to the appropriate Committee.
4. The Committee shall consider the appeal and issue a decision in writing within sixty (60) days after the last evidence or argument is received.
5. You have the right to appeal an adverse Committee decision to the Board of Directors.
6. All appeals will be heard at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board which occurs at least fifteen (15) days after the appeal is filed. All written evidence and argument you wish to present to the Board shall be submitted not later than fifteen (15) days prior to the scheduled meeting.
7. The Executive Director shall notify you of when the appeal before the Board will be heard, and of your rights as specified in the following paragraphs.
8. You have the right, by written request, to receive copies of any relevant documents in the possession of the Board. The Board shall have the right to require payment of the actual cost of reproducing such documents.
9. You have the right to appear before the Board in person, by counsel, or both, to present oral or written testimony and documentary evidence, and to argue orally or by written brief. You also have the right to present evidence and argument in writing and without a personal appearance, provided a waiver of right to appear and all written evidence are submitted not later than fifteen (15) days prior to the scheduled meeting at which the appeal will be considered. The failure to appear in person shall not prejudice consideration of the appeal.
10. The Board may consider evidence and argument presented without being bound by the rules of evidence applicable to court proceedings, but shall have the right to exclude from consideration any matter that is not relevant or material to the appeal.
11. Unless appealed, a Committee decision is final. The decision of the Board of Directors shall be final.
12. No person who participated in the initial Committee decision being appealed shall have a vote on the decision under appeal.
13. You are responsible for all costs incurred in exercising this right of appeal.