NURSING vs ULTRASOUND TECH

ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP · Jan 17, 2011

Okay let me see if I can help you out:

Nursing:education requirements: You can receive a two-year degree or a four-year degree as Nurse.

balance of school/work: Super intense and not family friendly.

balance of work/family (personal life): From what I've heard, Nursing isn't as family friendly as people make it out to be. But, you have more flexibility schedule wise, and Nursing is PERFECT as a second income!

Salary: average salary, according to indeed.com, is around 69k as of January 2011. But I've heard the average salary is as low as 53k. But RNs have more room for advancement than Ultrasound Techs.

Ultrasound Technician

education requirements- You can recieve a two-year degree or a four-year degree as an Ultrasound tech, so education wise, Nurses and UTs are the same.

balance of school/work: Not sure.

balance of work/family (personal life)- More family friendly, but not as flexible as Nursing schedule wise.

Salary: average salary, according to indeed.com, is around 56k as of January 2011.

Overall, I would still choose Nursing over UT because:

1. There is more opportunity for advancement.

2. There are many fields of Nursing to get into. With UT, you are limited to that field, much like a dental hygienist.

KaroSnowQueen, RN · Jan 17, 2011

Well, I am an LPN with 26+ years experience. I was looking into echo tech school before I took the job I had now.

One of my future daughter in law's is an echo tech. She works in a cardiac office, works 8-5, no weekends, all major holidays off and if it snows too much they close the office AND she gets paid. Her current salary isn't too much off from mine.

CNA1991, CNA · Jul 16, 2012

Honestly, I feel that you will get biased answers if you use a site where there is only one sides view of their profession so as a pre-student for both, I will tell you why I am interested in both and attempt to give you an unbiased overview of the basics.

Education

Nursing:you can enter the field as a lpn/lvn in a year, or with a ADN or BSN in about 3-6Years(counting prereqs and general education).Most employers are trending towards BSNs now and your opportunities will be more plentiful with that higher degree.

Ultrasound tech: you can enter this profession with a certificate, associates or bachelors degree. Usually, a certificate alone won't get you a job and most employers want an associates degree or hire.

School/work

You would probably have an easier time working while going to RDMS school because they spend less hours in school than nurses.

Family/work

Ultrasound:regular hours, pretty much no weekends/holidays. less stressful.

Nursing: REALLY flexible schedule, you can work any shift, shift lengths vary, opportunity for overtime and extra pay likely.

Salary:

Depends on the area. In my area, starting pay is about the same but registered nurses on average make somewhat more money than RDMS, about 10k more. In some cases, a RDMS will make more but in most cases RNs make more.Nurses, however, have more of an opportunity to increase their salaries after specializing and getting advance degrees.

Bobmo88 · Jul 16, 2012

I think it also depends on what type of ultrasound job you get as well because I know that techs at our hospital have to take call so you could be called in to work in the middle of the night and still have to work the next morning for a regularly scheduled shift, including weekends and holidays.