Clinical applications of nuclear medicine in gastroenterology.

Nuclear medicine (NM) has traditionally been a non-nursing field. This specialty has grown rapidly and continues to expand. Most nurses have had very limited exposure to nuclear medicine, except in the area of patient preparation for the nuclear medicine department. Because this specialty has had significant advances that require patient monitoring in many diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, nurses will benefit by learning more about this field and by equipping themselves to care for pre- and postprocedural patients. This article is an overview of the nuclear medicine process and its most common clinical applications in the GI field as they relate to nursing practice.