Some ?'s about being a radiology tech

viper15 · Joined: 23 Mar 2009 Posts: 1 Location: Washington D.C.

I am interested in becoming a radiologist tech and I have a few questions

1) I don't want to work in an Emergency room. Do radiology tech all have to spend time in the ER or are there areas that can stay out of ER.

2) the school I am looking at offers the basic "radiography" degree, and 2 specialties: MRI and CT. Is it wise to spend 2 more semesters in school for these specializations?

3) I have had a few people tell me that this field is over supplied with radiology techs. Is this true or is there good demand for techs?

Thanks

954heat · Joined: 29 Sep 2007 Posts: 90 Location: south florida

1. well during school i dont think its a must you do hours in the ER but you will eventually have to i suppose. as for when ur a tech, i have seen alot of techs work 100% of the time in another area, like there was a tech who only did flouro, or a tech who only did portables, also u can work outside a hospital like a outpatient center or doctors office.

2. in my opinion it is wise. i'll be graduating in oct and im already planning on goin back to school for ct in jan

3. yea ive also been hearing the same. id like to tell you something else but the fact of the matter is it is tough right now, but since you havent started school and your maybe doing mri or ct after that id say your about 3 years away for finishing school, so who knows what the job situation will be like then.

papa · Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 9:11 am Post subject:

1. while going through school, you'll most likely have to do an ER rotation. i forget what the exact figure is, but somewhere around 80% of all ER patients have some sort of radiological study done to them. will you always have to perform exams on ER patients? no. the only real way around ER patients would be to work at either an outpatient center, or an orthopedic clinic. what's your fear of the ER?

2. that would all depend on what you like about radiology. personally, i'm the kind of person that likes to remain busy, and not sit down a lot. MRI simply takes too long for me, and i lose interest. however, when i'm performing CT scans, they are quick scans, and i can go through many patients during a shift. you'd really have to see what each one is like before you make that decision.

3. the radiology field and the nursing field both go in cycles. at one time, there will be loads of tech jobs, and no nursing jobs. nobody goes into nursing because there's no jobs, and they all go into radiology. give it a couple years, and there'll be no tech jobs, and tons of nursing jobs because nobody went to school for nursing. just give it time Wink

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