ctnjason

I worked in a union hospital for 10 years and saw the good, bad, and downright ugly side of unions. With that said, THIS is why you need unions. Im not even a nurse but Ive seen in all allied health careers and nursing. They LOVE the fact that there is no shortage anymore, no matter what articles or reports you read. There is NO shortage. No nursing shortage, no xray tech shortage, no respiratory therapist shortage.....PERIOD. Upper management....usually ones that wear suits and haven't touched a patient since the Nixon administration (if ever) want to get rid of all the $40+/hour making people and dangle a job over 30 applicants heads to see which sucker will take the less money and benefits. Its happening folks and there aint a damn thing you can do about it except join together.

go to xray school, become a CT, MRI, US, or Nuc Med Tech. DO NOT go into nursing.

Im sure the heart attacks, strokes, gunshots, stabbings, and other REAL emergencies didnt wait that long...... hrmmmmm i guess you werent really an EMERGENCY.

I think its very ironic how a workplace ive recently seen preaches diversity everywhere, send diversity emails, has an employee support group for every ethinticity (except caucasian) under the sun, has diversity picnics, diversity training, diversity blah blah blah blah blah....... But the ENTIRE board of directors is........you guessed it.......... white.

This is where my quote came from.

sure we are! america is always looking to bomb some random country filled with brown people!

Get rid of your student loan debt..... STAT!!

I hate to inform you but a temp / travel / per diem / whatever nurse making $$ is not backstabbing other nurses. Call it what you want, drama it up, use loaded words like "back stabbing" or whatever you want, but the truth hurts. I AM IN A UNION and i get so aggravated at the union jumping to use loaded tirades like "the hospital doesnt care about safety" and things like that whenever the rumor of temp nurses come into play during a strike or crisis. The purpose of a union is to fight for better wages / rights. Once said contract is agreed on by both sides, then both sides have to honor that. I understand that. Once the contract is up, the facility has EVERY right to do whatever it needs to do. This is rather your union likes it or not. It amazes me once negotiations start and theres any hint of strike, it immediately begins with "the crazy greedy hospital that cares nothing about the patients hires temporary back stabbing nurses that will create a hell hole cesspool of scariness and its ALL the hospitals fault!" Working for a union is great BUT i know good and well that i am still replaceable if and when that time comes. It would not have hurt my feelings at all to see every teacher in wisconsin get replaced last year..... all their drama stirring about how the state doesnt care about "the kids". "The patient" is the nurses claim when things dont go their way.

MGH in Boston is NON union FYI

the young skinny girls you speak of in these scenarios are easier to punish and correct than someone obese. you can say hey stop texting but you cant say politically incorrect things that would offend someone.

this ^^^^^

Mark my word...... rather its education, health care, energy, or any major life affecting aspect of life, to fix the problem you must first do one thing: GET THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OUT. I do not know the "solution" to the problems but booting the feds out of medicine altogether would get us off to a great start.

You could not have said it any better. I finished x-ray school when i was 20, moved up and around the field / department, got registered in multiple modalities, and i look back 12 years later and know i wouldnt have changed it. I wanted to be a nurse a few years ago to be a travel nurse only but i did not go through with it. Im grateful for that decision. A good friend was in nursing school when i was in xray school. We used to trade barbs at who would be happier...... we dont even bring it up now. She was "burnt out" about 3 years after she graduated. I couldnt be happier with my career. I took a few jabs once that "i must have not had what it took to be a nurse" but the longer i work, the more im grateful if that in fact was the case. As far as the technology goes, MRI and CT scan are incredible now with the capability of the machines. Just goggle "3D CT Scan" and see the amazing images. It is not a monotonous "button pushing" job. You do have to think, you do have to know your anatomy, and you do have to be on your toes at times. As i mentioned in previous post, this seems to be a job you can do for the long term of your career. When you are 50 with kids in college, you will be glad your job isnt a huge stressor on you :)

Xray is the starting line for what you can do. Definitely go further to CT, MRI, Ultrasound, Nuclear Med, etc. As far as shouldve been an xray tech.... I work alot in a busy ER doing CT scan. SOOOOOO Many times we get these young, energetic EMT / Paramedic students who want to cut open cars and save the world come into the ER. They hit the CT scanner with their patients and you can see it in their eyes that MAYBE i should be doing this instead of Paramedic. Also, literally every week i have a nurse say to me "i shouldve done this" or "you guys seem more laid back that my floor" and things like this. Im tellin ya, it was a no brainer to me. ONCE i thought about going back to do nursing so i could be a travel nurse, i did a job shadow and that killed that notion FAST. Jason

this is 1000000% true. Why on earth someone would want to degrade my job is beyond me. All modalities of radiology, especially CT Scan, has blown wide open with advances in technology. The machines are capable of taking the most amazing images ever. To this day i remember looking in the course catalog of the local junior college to decide what i wanted to do.....nursing or xray..... im glad i did what i do now.

theres no way around it.....unions have good, bad, and ugly sides.

This is a WONDERFUL analogy. I knew a nurse once that was the most DRAMATIC pediatric nurse ive ever met. We had a patient in CT scan (15 years old) that was absolutely FINE. The patient even moved onto the table by themselves, was alert, etc. The nurse donned a lead apron and told me (the CT tech) that there was nothing i could do to get her out of the scan room during the scanning because "the patient needs me" and "im in charge". I proceeded to not scan the patient until she got outta the room because her prescence was not needed in the room. She could watch the patient behind the glass window like the rest of us. She could clearly see him and the monitor. Her actions that night made me envision her at a bar trying to pick up a man by saying "im a pedi nurse..... i save lives......" LOL

My PROS of being a Radiology Tech ( CT / Nuclear Medicine included) : The first go neck and neck with nursing..... I have a decent salary (i worked OT and per diem at another facility and made 100k+ the past 5 years), good work hours (3x12s a week for full time then i pick up per diem elsewhere), good benefits, 401k, etc. The reason i posted these pros are because i did not have to be a nurse to have these pros.... My Pros of doing what i do INSTEAD of nursing : My number ONE reason is IF i have a difficult patient, I do my exam and theres a pretty good chance i will NEVER see them again for a prolonged period of time. A CT scan can take 5 minutes or less many times. Thats a pretty good feeling to know i will not have to put up with someone, their family, their hangups, etc for an entire 12 hour shift. I know there are many many types of nurses that dont have to floor nurse a difficult patient for 12 hours at a time but this is huge in my book. Im good at what i do and treat all patients to the best of my ability but its a luxury knowing that if things get hairy, its almost over with them. Its not that im an insensitive prick, i just think i found my niche. I openly admit i cannot be a nurse. Another PRO of xray/ct/ radiology in general is there is a broad scale of "thats not my job" as mentioned previously in this thread. I have the ability, the certification, and am actually pretty damn good at IVs but if i think the pt is a difficult stick, i will GLADLY send the patient back to their room for a more qualified IV nurse to do this for me..... i mean hey, wouldnt you want the best person possible poking you? In this same range of thats not my job is of course the pee/poop/puke/blood/etc. I work my shift in a busy ER so i see PLENTY of body secretions and they do not bother me BUT when an 80 year old tells me he cant go to the radiology department because he has to poop, i gladly hand them their nurse call button and re-check on them in 20 minutes. I really enjoy my work environment. I work with a very small select few people that i feel is very different than some nursing environments that ive seen myself and heard about from nursing collegues at various facilities. These include the politics, backstabbing, drama, bickering, childish junior high behavior that gravitates. Im sure there are tons of radiology departments that have employees like these but i feel very fortunate that my shift is a tight knit hard working bunch that gets along very well. Job satisfaction. I feel very accomplished in what i do. I havent felt like this is a monotonous thankless job. I feel respected by my superiors and collegues. I hear horror stories of nurse managers throwing their employees under the bus at the drop of a hat. I welcome the chance to teach those less experienced while learning from those more experienced. Physical demands of the job. Ok so im gonna sound lazy here but this is just the truth. When i was in xray school, i shadowed a nuc med tech. I thought to myself dear god this must be the most boring job alive. He literally scanned 8 patients a day. Some exams took an hour or longer. He would inject the radioactive nucleotide and record the images on a screen over the course of an hour or longer. This seemed incredibly boring and i thought theres no way in hell this was for me. That was when i was 19 years old. Now that im 32, have a mortgage, family, golden retriever, car payments, etc i WELCOME this job. My point is it can pay VERY well (some nuc med techs make up to $45 an hour with about 8-12 years experience) while not sucking the life out of you. I will never forget this guy i shadowed. He was in this early 40s, kids in college, taking care of his elderly parents, etc. You could tell he was laid back at work, minimal stress, chill kinda guy. Think about a 45 year old woman with kids goin to college, mortgage, family etc AND a stressfull work environment / job. You gotta find a job that will last until you are ready to retire on YOUR terms.....not one that will send you to an early grave. I hope what ive posted doesnt sound harsh or degrading to nurses. I have the utmost respect for them..... so much that i quickly acknowledge i cannot be one of them. I once pondered going to nursing school and i did not. Nurses were VERY quick to say harsh things like "i couldnt cut it" or something of this nature. To them i say i couldnt nor do i want to. If anything, go be an accountant LOL

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLLO LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL Ok, as a registered x-ray TECHNOLOGIST (not technician), nuclear medicine, and cat scan TECHNOLOGIST, I will definitely say that in my 11 years of doing this, im VERY glad i did not do nursing. I enjoy taking my photos, sending the patient along their merry way. The "risk of radiation" is MINIMAL if you do very basic protection practices. I do not deal with poop / puke / pee / blood on a regular basis. We do see it and it does not bother me, but i enjoy the fact that its not in my room as often as nurses. I could make a similar list of pros and cons but i will refain. I think with nursing AND radiology, there is a tighter job market than what i experienced 11 years ago so good luck finding a job. In 11 years, ive never felt the burnout, i do not eat my young, i feel fulfilled and appreciated, and i do not dread coming to work. I would love to know the percentage of a 10+ year nurse with the same outlook. Please consider this: LOOK at something you can do not now, but 20+ years from now. All young grad nurses / EMTs / xray students all want to save the world but once the reality of mortgages, kids, family, bills, college loans, taking care of elderly parents, etc sets in, the saving the world superhero mentality takes a back seat. If i could do it all over again, i would do almost EXACTLY what i did. I would go into Xray, specialize in CT scan, MRI, or Nuclear Medicine, and live a pretty good life. You will make the same amount (at my hospital slightly more) as a nurse and i personally believe you will have a better overall well being. The "possibilities are endless" comment really threw me for a loop..... like xray has no possibilities..... Thats far from the truth. VERY far.

are you kidding???? Im GLAD im not a nurse. OFFENDED??? Are you joking? Im very grateful i never became a nurse now. Read my posts? I think i have a total of 15. Im glad your easter sunday was entertained by my posts. If you are so thin skinned to jump to conclusions and being offended then um..... yeah go be an accountant lol As far as bein a breadwinner, this is my point exactly. Regardless of how rewarding and warm and fuzzy you feel, when you have a mortgage, car payments, kids in college, etc MONEY DOES matter. I also went back to all my wonderful posts you read....... from 2008 lol..... good one. 3 years later almost to the day and im GLAD i did (or did not do) what i did.

I always agree with them, no matter what they say. Not like fake applebees waitress wanting a tip agreeing, i mean sarcastic agreeing. They scream ITS COLD IN HERE..... i say It SUUUUUUUURE IS!!!!!!!...... And the awkward silence ensues while i do whatever task i need to do. If they say IM TIRED!!!!!!!! I say ME TOO!!!!!!!!!........ IM HUNGRY!!!! ME TOO!!!!!!!!! You get the picture :-p Its great.

i would suggest you stop nursing altogether and go back to school to be an accountant.

LOL as a CT / Nuclear Medicine tech, i am GLAD to say "ah sorry, ask your nurse"

lol my thoughts exactly

anything you call or label me is ok....... its been done before BUT heres my 2 cents. There is no such thing as left wing, right wing, republicrat, tea partier, liberal, whatever. They are all just names. Our country is ran by a select few powerful people who use, manipulate, control, and decide ways to line their pockets. Obama, Mccain, Palin, Mickey-freakin-mouse all have 1 thing in common...... THEY DO NOT WORK FOR YOU. They only work for a select group or rich corporations that pay for their campaigns. Google it. I dare you. Google the top 20 campaign contributors of Mccain and Obama in 2008. They are almost IDENTICAL. Does that tell you anything? Hope and Change was supposed to get us out of war.... we are still there. The economy is still in the crapper. Your tax dollars went to bail-out Obama's / Mccain's friends (yes the same thing wouldve happened with Mccain in office) , and yet we all still blindly go about our business as usual. You cant name your state reps but you know who brad pitt and angelina adopted last week.