Nurses vs. Xray Techs

Nurses Career Support

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If anyone has been both an RN and xray tech or know the two professions well, please give some advice. I am a LPN and can not choose between RN or xray tech. I feel sort of not confident to do RN so leaning towards xray tech. Any advice would be great. Also, the thing stopping me from xray is I hear it is very very difficult to find an xray job, esp full time or even part time!!

(don't want to go to school and never find a job in xray?!)

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Hi,

I may not be much help in the answers you are looking for but I actually have a question for you. How difficult was LPN school? I will be hopefully applying to LPN school this May. Last year I took the TEAS exam to apply for RN program but I failed it. I basically decided then to never try the test again.

I decided that maybe I should just go for an LPN degree instead. How dificult would you say it was and were you able to find a job fairly quickly after graduation. I have had numerous people tell me that I would be making a mistake going into an LPN degree since they are trying to do away with them.

I am scared I will graduate and not be able to find a job. My dream is to one day work at the Childrens Hospital in my city.

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LPN school requires a lot of studying/reading and a decent amount of time. It is really not as hard as people make it out to be, I think if you are motivated to do it.. then you will be fine. It is a short schooling(1 yr after prereqs) and decent pay. (15-17/hr).

I think that they are getting rid of a lot of LPNS in hospital settings is what I hear. I think that it is quite easy to find a job in a long term care setting, I found two easily and got 2-3 calls for more interviews after already being hired elsewhere.

I would go for it and I think if you like being an LPN that you will be able to get your RN (just one more yr) and not be scared to do it or whatever your reasoning is. Then youd have better luck at ur dream job.

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Specializes in TELEMETRY.

i would Finish up my RN if I were you. As a XRAY tech you dont have as many option as you do for a RN.

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Not that money is the only thing but, you can make XRay tech, go on to be a interventional tech like in a Cath Lab.

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So you believe xray tech is the way to go your saying??? not heard of interventional tech....

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Well, when I lost my nice x-ray job after 7 years with the same company, I decided to go into nursing. I love healthcare period, but I'm looking towards having more impact on my patient's life. Like others said, there are more career pathways with nursing. With X-ray, you are kinda limited. You can work in the cath lab once you've have some x-ray experience and if your lucky, your employer might find time to cross-train you in either CT or MRI. I worked at a cushy imaging center working no holiday & stuff like that. It just depends on what you want to do. I'd suggest job-shadowing in a radiology dept to help you get some more insight.

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I actually job shadowed two places and liked it I think. I was accepted into a program that was hard to get into but changed my mind due to scared to get a job... Do you think its really hard to find one? I am thinking about rea pplying to program and trying again if theres a decent change ill find a job...

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Hi, just be aware that there are a few traps going into X-ray, as they have different levels of licensing, (limited) and that can be an obstacle to employment. Check CAAHEP for accreditation for any program you choose, as some are a costly mistake. Some schools have even formed their own phony accreditation/boards to look legitimate. There are even a few schools that train as MRI, CAT, ECHO, and Ultrasound, that leave you unemployable. The good news is a CAAHEP program usually leaves you with a good education and eventual employment. In your situation I often encourage investigating ultrasound, general, echo, on vascular. It is a very cool profession if you love A&P and the diagnostic end of our game. Earnings are very close to RN in most areas, plus call $$ adds up. Good luck, look closely.:smokin:

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, Emergency, SAFE.

Just my 2 cents...

In my neck of the woods, (in regards to someones earlier suggestion) Xray tech and Cardiovascular tech are 2 very different schools. If you start as an Xray tech, you stay an Xray tech.

With you already being an LPN, throw that extra year into a Bridge program then go where you want. RN's are employed in radiology sometimes ( i cant honestly tell you what they do there), so if thats your cup of tea, its possible for you to be employed there @ a higher rate of pay.

Any Rad Tech program thats started at this point, will most likely be a 2 yr program (so regardless of previous schooling, it will take a whole 2 years to complete.) If im wrong, im sure someone will be along soon enough to tell me so. :D

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Specializes in Trauma/ED.

I have a lot of friends that are Xray techs and yes they make a little less than RN's but they don't have nearly the stress or work load that we do. My good friend in CT gets to watch movies and even nap sometimes during his shift! They do have to take call more than we do and to me their job would get repetitive and boring but if you don't want to work as hard and are interested in machines go for it.

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DO you think that there is a decent chance in finding a job as xray tech???

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