Is there a demand for Rad Techs?

bigsick_littlesick · Nov 23, 2011

I'm in the greater Sacramento area and it seems that they have a little better luck in getting jobs but not much. The program around here is 2 years just like ADN programs so it is very appealing to a lot of people. I want to say they have around 3-4 maybe 5 pre-reqs so it doesn't take much to get on their waiting list. I have several friends who have gone through the rad tech program here but they were already employees of the hospital they got hired at. Eventually they are getting jobs, slowly but surely. And they are on-call/per diem positions. As for pay, I think nurses get paid more even if the rad techs are cross trained in different modalities like CT, MRI, fluoro and mammography. Now if you can somehow make it into a nuc med program. they definitely make as much, if not more than nurses but for instance, the program here, only takes like 10 people a year. It's ridiculously hard to get into. Hope this helps!

MedChica · Nov 23, 2011

I don't know. How are things in your area?

For mine? Sure, there is. If you can actually find a job as a new tech....*laugh*

Xray technologists or radiographers(sorry, it's always annoyed me. We're not 'technicians'. We're not freakin' mechanics, people! *laugh*) tend to gobble up the work, employed with 2 and 3 jobs. You may have a weekday job, a weekend job...an on-call job for another company. Whatever.

Additionally, health careers tend to be big on experience. I've never seen the market quite like this, honestly. But, maybe that's because I just haven't lived long enough?

Some in my area ask me about my luck (although I'm in nursing school and am burned out on xray) because they're having such a time. I live in Texas. Not sure what's going on. Like my fellow hospital personnel (nurses), I'm used to being able to walk into a rad jobs, too. As early as 2008, I had folks throwing positions at me. Just didn't want them. These days? The climate's a bit different.

I do believe that radiology fares better. People are flocking to nursing for the money+stability, which is a shame. Still, they don't know about xray...which should leave radiology wide open. Ironically, if these ppl are only entering health professions for the money, xray is probably the best place that they can go. With nursing, you HAVE to deal with people. Like, REALLY deal with them.

Xray? Eh. You don't exactly have to boast exceptonal people skills to do the job. You 'shoot xrays'; you don't 'take care of pts'.

Anyway, rad techs start off at $21/hr (about) in the hospital. $21-26/hr. I'll say.

Rad techs earn $15-20 in the doc office. Anything less? You're getting robbed....

You won't break $100,000 but you'll earn a respectable amount. You can do $60,000/year, 'specially if you have no kids. Depends on how hard you want to work and the amount of hours that you have to work. That's how it is for all health care professions really. Well...the HIGHLY-PAID occupation, I mean.

Xray and nursing...uh, and I think that's it.

You can do CT after that. They start at about $27/hr. I was military trained so, I didn't go to a 'school' for it. I don't know if a 'school' for CT exists. We just walked on over to CT to be trained.

But you'll have to go to Mammo school and Ultrasound (us) school if you want to do that.

As an xray tech, you work as needed. So long as there are xrays and ppl keep coming in? You work.

Speed and accuracy are your friends. It's not the same w/nursing.

In xray, you identify, verify and shoot the exam, tell them when to expect their report/refer ? to doc and wave goodbye.

The 'day to day' is akin to an assembly plant. *laugh* Get em in and out. You churn 'em out.

The work consists of basic xrays and fluoroscopy (IVP, VCUG, BE, BS, UGI,etc...)

- You may do 'portables'.

- You may do C-Arm (which is similar to fluoroscopy. You go to the OR and watch the surgery then take some pics.

Every other radiology modality? Works with scheduled pts with the occasional add-on (stat/asap) for 'diagnostic' studies.

CT is where you'll see the most action. Why? Pt's come to the ER and, especially if it's an MVA, they always go to CT. And, when they get there, they always 'try' to die. It's as if they know....

"I'm in radiology with a skittish CT tech. Now, I can let go...."

*laugh*

You'll get lots of sticks b/c some pts require 'contrast' for their scans.

Overall, radiology is monotonous and I find it odd that they're so highly paid when you don't do even HALF the work of a nurse.

...and every stage gets progressively lazi-er.

The US techs used to scan standing up to keep from falling asleep. It's hot in that there b/c of the machine. The lights are low. No one is talking. They have that elevator music on and they're staring into the screen of that computer....*laugh*

Every now and then you get a diagnostic breast biopsy or a DVT. That livens things up.

Mammo? They just squish boobs all day long. Now that many depts have gone digital, they don't even have to hang film. What, oh what...do they do when they aren't squishing boobies, these days? I guess they just squeeze more boobs into their schedule.

Oh yeah...

-- You can shoot with a state license. You just can't work in a hospital b/c you're not qualified to do Fluoro.

-- Don't worry about the math. Conversions are not difficult and the machines that we have these days practically think for you. Although you will have to understand the concepts to improve image quality, i.e., cutting the 'mass' in half, decreasing time, the relationship between Mass and KVP...stuff like that.

It's not difficult. Unless you're in a doc office, it's possible that you won't even be working on film or see the inside of a darkroom in the real world. Although, it'd be nice if you did. Computers go down. We had our digital system crash on us, twice. Guess what happened? We blew the dust off that processor and wrote orders by hand.

Sorry, if this post is all over the place. I'm kind of tired.

turnforthenurse, MSN, NP · Nov 23, 2011

Try $15-$17 starting out...or roughly around $30,000/year. Not as much as an RN. As for the job market, there isn't a high demand for them, but jobs are out there. I almost want to say the job market is as tough as it is for nurses at the moment.

My brother is a rad tech. He worked at a hospital part-time for awhile (no benefits) but then got a full-time position at a doctor's office and decided to go PRN with the hospital. The hospital that he got hired at was the same place where he had his clinicals. Networking is A MUST - not with just rad tech jobs but with any job. There are still some people he graduated with (in summer 2010) who still don't have jobs.

MedChica explained things pretty well.

Have you thought about respiratory therapy? I thought about RT during my pre-reqs because my med terminology instructor was an RT...he described it as like nursing, only you deal with the mediastinum on up RT's are responsible for everything respiratory related - they give medications, but are limited to things like nebs/inhalers. They work with non-invasive ventilation (CPAP, BiPAP) in addition to invasive ventilation. At my hospital our RTs also do our 12-lead EKGs (they don't want the RNs doing them on my floor/ICU for whatever reason). Not sure about the pay, but I'm sure someone else can shed some light on that topic.

AddisonLawrence03 · Nov 23, 2011

Okay welll what about Cardivascular Tech??? how's the demand for that??

Dre2416, BSN, RN · Nov 23, 2011

My roommate is a rad tech here in Florida. She graduated in May and just last week was offered a job with a clinic that only works her 4 days a month where she does MAYBE one x ray a day.. the rest is NA or MA work...(phone calls, vitals, etc) she gets paid $14/hr. The local hospital pays $17.50 hr... in this area its VERY difficult to get a rad tech job as there are 2 schools in the same area that graduate rad tech's twice a year with only 3 major hospitals to choose from..

fromtheseaRN, BSN, RN · Nov 23, 2011

Okay welll what about Cardivascular Tech??? how's the demand for that??

i had to look that up because i had never heard of it. everything listed that card techs do, is stuff that the RNs do in my area. i'm sure that varies by state, of course. i think your best bet for knowing what's in demand in your area is to check job postings on your local hospitals websites.

for what it's worth, my friend was a rad. tech, and then continued her education onto nuclear medicine (being a rad tech is required to enter the nuc med program in my state). she makes WAY more money than i'll make for a very long time, if ever. and she had her pick of jobs when it was all said and done.

AddisonLawrence03 · Nov 23, 2011

Oh thanks. I'll look into nuclear medicine

poopprincess · Nov 23, 2011

I would suggest tutoring to get your test score up and turn your weaknesses into strengths. All of these other programs still have entrance exams with similiar requirements.

brandy1017, ASN, RN · Nov 23, 2011

I read there was only a 1% vacancy rate for Radiology Techs in WI and that was a year ago. I think it is saturated and we have CNA's who have been unable to get jobs after completing the radiology tech program. I would think US tech would have better job opportunities and better pay.

turnforthenurse, MSN, NP · Nov 23, 2011

I'm pretty sure that to work in nuclear medicine you have to have a rad tech degree. I just remember my brother pointing that out because a fellow classmate failed her rad tech residency and decided to go for nuclear medicine but my brother kept saying how you need a rad tech degree and pass the residency. I'm not 100% sure on that, though, but definitely something to look into before you decide.

What about an ultrasound tech? You can specialize in vascular or OB or both. I know someone who specialized in both. She loves her job!

AddisonLawrence03 · Nov 24, 2011

I will stick with Rad Tech for now. How do you get the additional certification in MRI, Mammography etc???