Pharmacist, Nuclear Medicine

1) GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The Nuclear Pharmacist is responsible for the preparation, calibration, compounding, dispensing, and quality control of radiopharmaceuticals while ensuring compliance with aseptic technique, radiation safety standards, Act 304, AELB requirements, BSRP 2010, GMP principles, and hospital policies. The role supports radiopharmacy operations, CDR activities, inventory control, documentation, and multidisciplinary clinical services.

2) JOB DESCRIPTION

Main Responsibilities

• Prepare, compound, calibrate, and dispense radiopharmaceuticals using GMP-compliant and aseptic techniques, ensuring accuracy, sterility, purity, and radiation safety at all times.

• Conduct QC and QA testing on radiopharmaceuticals, generators (e.g., Tc-99m), dose calibrators, shielding devices, cleanroom systems, and radiopharmacy equipment.

• Ensure strict compliance with MOH, AELB, Act 304, BSRP 2010, and hospital regulations, including documentation, radioactive waste management, safety monitoring, and audit readiness.

• Manage radiopharmaceutical inventory, including procurement, ordering calculations, storage, decay tracking, expiry checks, and minimising wastage.

• Maintain radiopharmacy and cleanroom environmental control, ensuring cleanliness, sterility, equipment functionality, temperature logs, and adherence to GMP/GLP standards.

• Verify prescriptions, perform medication reconciliation, conduct drug interaction and allergy screening, and provide patient counselling when required.

• Supervise Cytotoxic Drug Reconstitution (CDR) services, including validation, chemotherapy checking, proper documentation, and training for Pharmacy Technicians.

• Maintain complete, accurate, and secure documentation, including batch preparation forms, QC logs, generator records, dangerous/psychotropic drug registers, radiation logs, and key custody.

• Provide clinical and technical expertise to consultants, medical physicists, nuclear radiographers, and allied health teams on radiopharmaceutical use, kinetics, biodistribution, and dose calculations.

• Participate in incident reporting, RCA, and medication safety initiatives, supporting the Medication Without Harm Program and hospital risk management activities.

• Coordinate licensing and regulatory matters, including annual AELB/MOH renewals, submission preparation, compliance reports, and liaison with authorities.

Other Duties and Responsibilities

• Perform any other responsibilities as assigned by immediate superior or hospital management.

3) JOB REQUIREMENT

Education:

• Minimum a Bachelor Degree in Pharmacy.

• Registered with the Malaysian Board of Pharmacy

• Registered and certified as Nuclear Pharmacist by Institute Kanser Negara (IKN)

• Possess Poison License A

Knowledge and Experiences:

• Working experience in the hospital setting

• Good communication skills

• Validated to perform Cytotoxic Drug Reconstitutions (CDR)

Skills & Competencies:

Special skills required

• Radiopharmaceutical Preparation & Quality Assurance: Skilled in aseptic preparation, radiopharmaceutical compounding, dose calibration, QC/QA testing, sterility assessment, and purity checks using dose calibrators and dispensing systems.

• Radioisotope & Nuclear Medicine Knowledge: Demonstrates strong understanding of radioisotope generators (e.g., Tc-99m operation and elution), radioactive decay principles, half-life calculations, biodistribution, and pharmacokinetics of radiopharmaceuticals.

• Regulatory & Safety Compliance: Competent in radiation safety, handling and disposal of radioactive waste, and full compliance with AELB and MOH Malaysia regulations, GMP/GLP requirements, and cleanroom standards.

• Radiation Monitoring & Documentation: Able to perform radiation monitoring and use appropriate detection instruments, while maintaining accurate documentation, batch records, QC logs, and inventory control.

• Clinical Workflow Awareness: Familiarity with nuclear medicine imaging workflows and procedures, including SPECT, SPECT/CT, and PET/CT, supporting seamless coordination with clinical and diagnostic teams.

• Training & Technical Support: Capable of training staff on safe radiopharmaceutical preparation and emergency procedures, and providing technical advice to physicians, technologists, and medical physicists.

Personal attributes

• Strong sense of responsibility and safety awareness

• High attention to detail and accuracy in preparation and record-keeping

• Ethical and compliant with all regulatory and professional standards

• Good communication and interpersonal skills

• Ability to work efficiently under pressure and within strict time constraints

• Committed to continuous learning and professional development

• Organized, disciplined, and dependable team player

• Demonstrates integrity, accountability, and professionalism in all aspects of work.