career change....RAD vs. cardiac sonograpy

[hockeyloverof3]

Hello,

I am 34 years old, married with 3 children. I've been in the mortgage industry for the last 12 years or so which has come to a screeching halt. I have contemplated for several years to get into the medical field but could never stop what I was doing long enough to even consider going back to school. However, now that my mortgage office has recently closed I am ready to do just that...go back to school.

I have recently applied for the RN program at my community college but just changed my mind after talking with several nurses who say that if they had to do it all over again they would do radiography or ultrasound because of much less stress, making the same $$$$, not dealing with Dr's as much, nor stressful families. So now I"m ready to go full steam ahead with one or the other...just can't decide which one. My community college offers a radiography partnership with another school 1 hour away...and the sonography programs partners with a school an hour away in the opposite direction, and it is for CARDIAC SONOGRAPHY, not general diagnostic. I've notice on some threads in this forum that Rad & sonography seem to be together but where I'm at in Mich they are not. Just looking for input on either career choices or both..salaries, demand, opportunities, etc. With radiography I've heard that I would want to get into CT & MRI in order to be happy....but that comes later after you've done a 2yr program in regular radiography right? And with the cardiac sonography.... is it bad to start out so specialized? I've heard to start general and then figure that part out later...but the school here only offers cardiac. They seem to think placement later won't be an issue.

Just confused and trying to sort it all out to make the right decision. I feel like I've wasted so many years and now I need to make it happen. Thanks for your input.

[neatnurse30]

I know as RN that I would go to either pharmacy school or radiology, if I had to choose again. I know for sure, that there are no more stressful jobs in the hospital than nursing. I think radiology is a great profession and you can specialize in MRI or Ct scan. I think sonography is great, but somewhat more narrowed field.

Good luck with making your decision.

[dreamon]

Isn't the salary greater for sonographers than radiographers? I know it isn't all about money but you do have 3 future college students possibly? :-)

For a while I was considering becoming a sonographer. After all the research I could find on the profession, the biggest complaint was the job being a bit boring after a while.

When I compared sonography to nursing, the former seemed like the better choice at first. But I am a person who loves to move around and see what our great country has to offer. So to go into a career where I could get hired virtually anywhere and has so many options in where to work I chose nursing. Even with all the complaints so many have.

I hope I made the right decision, good luck to you with yours. If you have a myspace page there is a moderately active Xray group that may be able to answer your questions a bit better.

Let me know if you'd like the link.

[Pinkster]

I know that if I had the opportunity to go to a sonography school from the get go I would, but those schools are few and far between. (but you seem to be either far, or few haha) There also is little advancement in these positions, yes there are bachelors degrees for both ultrasound and Rad tech, but the only thing i could see beyond that is the new position of radiology assistant (similar to physician assistant but for radiology) and those schools are new and rare.

Cardiac is the highest paying out of the sonographers followed by OB.

Rad techs make less unless they obtain higher certs like MRI or Nuc Med.

you can search on Payscale.com and it has differentiations for these two jobs and the specialities within them as well as location.

As it is a specialty job, there will be fewer available, perhaps the school has partnerships with hospitals for job placement, but never rely on a school that promises job placement believe me.

Good luck!

[dark_light]

hockeyloverof3,

You may want to check out http://www.radiologyforums.com/

I used to frequent this forum when I considered pursuing a career as an MRI tech. You'll find excellent advise from experienced tech and others in the field.

Good luck!