Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Summary
The American Society of Nuclear Cardiology is the authority on Nuclear Cardiology in the U.S. & they publish the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology.
ASNC offers 6 CE credits online for Technologists. They are free for members, $60/each for non-members.
ASNC membership for Technologists costs $80/year. So, if you paid $80 for no other reason than the CE’s, you’d be paying for 6 credits @ $13.33/credit hour.
So, it might be worth joining ASNC if you want to anyways & you’re up for some challenging CE’s.
You get the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology & discounts on meetings thrown in.
Read on for how to navigate ASNC’s CEs.
Free Courses Offered for Members
ASNC usually offers 6 free CEs for members on it’s site.
The courses are usually from fairly recent Journal of Nuclear Cardiology articles, they will change over time.
List of Free ASNC CEs For Members (As of 7/7/21)
CE Title | Hours | Cost |
---|---|---|
Prognostic Value of Coronary Flow Reserve in Patients With Suspected or Known Coronary Artery Disease Referred to PET Myocardial Perfusion Imaging: A Meta-Analysis | 1.0 | $50 / free for members |
Hybrid PET/MR Imaging in Myocardial Inflammation Post-Myocardial Infarction | 1.0 | $50 / free for members |
Coronary Artery Disease in Patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection | 1.0 | $50 / free for members |
Myocardial Perfusion Imaging for Diabetes: Key Points from the Evidence and Clinical Questions to be Answered | 1.0 | $50 / free for members |
Quantitative Clinical Nuclear Cardiology, Part 2: Evolving/Emerging Applications | 1.0 | $50 / free for members |
Nuclear cardiology in the context of multimodality imaging to detect cardiac toxicity from cancer therapeutics: Established and emerging methods | 1.0 | $50 / free for members |
Totals | 6.0 | $50 / free for members |
How to Login & Choose a Course
We’re going to assume for the purposes of these instructions that you are already an ASNC member, since $60/CE Credit is probably too expensive for most people.
Here’s where you’ll login as a member to take your courses:
Then you’ll go the Learning Center, as seen below:
Navigate to the Journal CME/CE part of the Learning Center & choose a course:
To check out, you don’t have to fill in any payment information:
Then, you’ll go to this screen:
How to Take a Course
Next, scroll to the bottom of the activity overview and check the checkbox that affirms you’ve read the overview.
Then, launch the course:
The course is simply an article from the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology, with about 4 or 5 difficult questions about the article.
So read the PDF article and click the checkbox to confirm you’ve read it. Then launch the test, as seen below.
You have to score at least 75% to pass.
The post tests are short, but the questions are not easy if you’re not used to thinking at that level.
ASNC’s continuing education credits will force you to put on your thinking cap and concentrate.
However, if you’re into nuclear cardiology, you might learn something useful.
- For example, this article revealed that a patient’s Heart Rate Response to Lexiscan is an independent prognostic indicator in patients undergoing MPI.
- Heart Rate Response = [(Maximum Heart Rate — Baseline Heart Rate)/Baseline Heart Rate] x 100.
- Heart rate normally goes up after giving Regadenson, for two reasons. First, because of systemic vasodilation. Second, because there is direct sympathetic stimulation.
- In a 2011 study, patients whose Heart Rate Response was in the lowest quartile (less than 17%) had a five fold increase in mortality compared to patients in the highest quartile (HRR greater than or equal to 43%), over a 22 month follow up period. That’s very important.
- Heart Rate Response = [(Maximum Heart Rate — Baseline Heart Rate)/Baseline Heart Rate] x 100.
Once you’ve passed your test, you must complete the evaluation:
Then you can claim what type of credit you want, choose ARRT as a technologist:
There- you’re done.
Here’s your certificate; ASNC credits are accepted by ARRT & NMTCB:
Valid for Physicians’ CME Requirements
These 6 courses are also valid for your Interpreting Physicians to take as part of their IAC Nuclear/PET (“ICANL”) CME requirements. The courses are approved for 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit each.
Plus there are many more activities available for physicians.
Physician membership costs $295.