Medical Physics or Health Physics (professional)

[fatoul2001]

Hi everybody, am new to this forum. I recently graduated with a Bsc in Nuclear Medicine but with the job market being poor right now I am thinking about getting my masters in either medical or health physics. First is it a worth it to get your masters in either field? Second which one will be a better choice in terms of job opportunities. I am interested in both fields. Thank you.

 

[Choppy]

To work professionally as a medical physicist these days you need a master's degree as a bare minimum + a two year residency if you're aiming for certification. To be competative for residency positions, a PhD is highly recommended.

I don't know what's involved in a nuclear medicine degree. It might be worth keeping in mind that unless you've completed the equivalent of an undergraduate physics degree, you may not qualify to get into some medical physics graduate programs. Just make sure you look hard at the admission requirements of any program you're interested in.

As for job prospects, I would guess that job prospects are reasonably similar in either field, however health physics tends to be easier to get into. Some people go straight into it with BSc degrees. Often there are professional credentialing exams, but they seem to be orders of magnitude less involved than medical physics board exams.

 

[fatoul2001]

Well Nuclear Medicine is a diagnostic imaging modality and sometimes some students in this field end up going for medical physics. However, the school that has both program is where i got my Bsc but they only have a master's program. Yes its is accepted and I have physics background. I just read a lot of comments here other sites but this site seems more informative. I just want to figure out what I want to do but I don't want to do something and cant' get a job at the end of the day.
Thank you so much for your response and was really helpful.