Rad Tech Salary, Education, Working Condition & Career

 To become a rad technician, one has to complete at least a 2-year associate degree from an accredited community college to be eligible to sit for the required professional exams and practice (according http://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Radiology-Technician). Furthering one's education into a 4-year radiology program and even going further, greatly enhances one's chances of attracting more income for themselves and being entrusted with much higher positions and responsibilities as well. One is required to have a sound mastery of the human anatomy and physiology, some physics, radiology safety and dealing with patients without aggravating them in any way. There are clinical or practical sessions that one is required to take right after going through classroom courses to help them better their skills with dealing with the radiology equipments that they will encounter every day in their career.

Working Condition

 Unlike what most people outside the medical profession think, the working environment and conditions of a rad tech is very clean and exciting for all that would like to jump into the profession. A radiologic technologist operates very sophisticated state-of-the-art radiology equipment designed to take clear and accurate images of virtually any part of the body, and present them to physicians and other medical professionals for diagnostic purposes and further analysis of patient's health condition.

Salary and Benefits

 The environment is very clean, quiet and formal with many interactions with other medical professionals who rely on the radiological imaging to make their diagnosis or to ascertain certain kinds of medical conditions before they proceed further with their patient's treatment options. The salary for a X-radiation technician in the current job market, is in the upwards of $65,000 and is foretasted to increase (source: http://radiologytechniciansalarysource.com). There are bound to be some variations depending on one's locality or region of employment as well as their level of education and experience in the field. Whatever the variation, a medical radiation technologist should expect to have a secure job with a very steady and decent income.

Reasons to Become a Radiology Technician

 As the day goes by, similar situations continue to present themselves and just like the colors of the rainbow that can mix themselves into an infinite number of hues, so is the nature of experiences that come with this position, and it is very exciting indeed. Overall, this is a very exciting career that involves handling lots of technological equipment in a very clean and professional environment as well as dealing with other medical experts in a very fast-paced environment. It is true that the academic requirements or the college training to become a radiology technician can be quite a challenging or daunting task for many student; however, the benefits that come after competing the radiology program and landing oneself a job, are far much rewarding and over-compensates for the struggle. This is definitely a financially rewarding career with great job security and a really promising outlook not only in one country or locality, but all over the world. This is a really great time to become a radiology technician, and I really enjoy it.

Career Advice

Pursuing a career is significant investment of time and money, so really investigate whether this is what you want to do. Research the career to ensure it matches your goals and values and also realistically assess your strengths and weaknesses to determine if it fits. Do you like working with people? Are you OK with working with the sick? You have to be able to work with sick people. And arrange time to job shadow a radiology tech. If you’re from a High School go to your guidance counselor. If you’re interested in coming for a job shadow let them know. I do it all the time. I have students coming from different High Schools that come and job shadow one of our Techs or I take them around the department and get them to see what we really do. It’s one thing to listen to me talk and tell you what I do on a daily basis but something completely different to actually see it in action. So I highly recommend that.

I always wanted to be in the medical field but I didn’t what to be a Doctor, I didn’t want to put in the hours and I didn’t want to be a nurse so I went looking and this is what I found. I thought: Oh yeah! It’s Radiology! Those are kind of cool. Taking pictures of bones and other stuff. But once I got into the program and I actually gone to the floor, I’m working with patients and talking to people and dealing with that type of environment, I really love it. I can’t say that I don’t love my job. I love caring for people and that’s to me, I like being part of the solution to the problem. And that’s really what you are. You are part of the solution to the problem. That patient has something wrong. You are part of the solution to how they’re going to get cared for to make them better.

Will demand for workers Increase or Decrease?

We’re getting into that stage now where the baby boomers are slowly starting to walk out, to retire so there are more jobs coming up in the next, I would say, in the next five years. But like any other profession we go through peaks and valleys. It goes up and down. It’s hard to say in the future what’s going to happen. Our hospital is expanding constantly so we might have more jobs available in the next five to ten years, just from expansion alone. So it’s really hard to say.

Where would I see us in the next five years?

I really don’t know! For example we have an MRI unit right now at the Health Sciences Center. One of the only ones in North America, let alone the world, that actually can move. It’s an MRI unit that can move between three separate rooms. It can be in an angiography suite, which is where we do the vessel imaging, it can be on its own just to do general imaging and it can also move into an OR suite. So it can also be used in the operating room. They’re just starting to use it now. So it’s innovative but by the time that we got it in there was already a new one down on the market. So everything is changing constantly.