Radiology tech, vs Radiology Nurse??

Sounds about right for radiation therapy. What a lot of people don't understand is that radiation is a drug just like morphine, pencilin, etc. It takes an MD's order to dispense it (i.e. an order for the exam), you must know the proper way to dispense it (how the exam is to be done), and the side effects (dangers of radiation).

In radiation therapy doses of 3000 to 7000 RAD (Radiation Absorbed Dose)are given to the patient over a prescribed amount of time. For a comparison of how much that is, no one has ever lived after recieving 1000 RAD at one time. So you better believe radiation therapists are going to be paid a pretty penny; only problem is that is now a saturated area of radiology.

Radiology Nursing is not the same as Interventional Radiology in the larger hospitals. Nurses make more money than the technologists, unless they have the CVIS certificate and the hospital pays a differential.

Questions to ask yourself.
Radiology nurse only, how big is the hospital, how many and what types of procedures do they perform.
Interventional Radiology, (Cath Lab nursing)
Interventioanl Cardiovascular (Cath Lab nursing)
What specialties in Radiology do you want. CT, MRI, Radiation Oncology? Some Rad departments pay differentials based on passing cert. tests.
Take a visit to the different departments and see what they do, ask the nurses about on call and call back. Ask your family, spouse if they will divorce for being gone too much when you get called in. I have seen it happen for busy Cath Lab staff.

Good Luck

I'm currently in school to be an xray tech...would it be smart to go into nursing school after that to become a radiology nurse? Do you need to have your license to be a rad tech in order to be a rad nurse or am I essentially wasting my time in school to be a tech if I plan on being a rad nurse? Also, what is the salary difference and would I actually be making more money being a rad nurse with the tech degree than I would if I were to be a rad nurse without the tech degree?

Hi Matt, I was wondering the same thing. Radiology intrigues me and I don't want to waste my time doing one route then have to go back to school and start all over again for another route :/

Not necessary to be a Rad. Tech first.
They are two VERY different jobs, different job descriptions, different responsibilities, different focus, different scope of practice.

If you want to be a Radiology Nurse you must become an RN first.
After getting an RN, it is helpful to have worked as an RN before working in Radiology, as you will be expected to triage situations and function fairly autonomously (working within dept protocols).

Contact area Radiology Depts and ask the nurses what the requirements would be if one wanted to work for their dept as a Radiology Nurse.

Good luck.

Why do rad. tech's make more than RN's? please educate me as I don't know, IMO I think the RN has more on their hands then a rad. tech, so why the big difference in pay? Does anyone know?

Sorry, after I poseted this I noticed that the subject was RADIOLOGY, and I was talking about radiation therapist. But if anyone knows, why do the radiation therapists make about more than RN's, once again, I think the RN's have way more on their plate, but I really don't know all that a radiation therapist work is like?
Thanks