What I wish I knew before attending radiology technology school is the central theme as we dive into the world of radiologic technology. With over 30 years of combined experience, we discuss the importance of career path mapping early in your medical imaging journey. Highlighting the vast opportunities available today compared to two decades ago, we emphasize how advancements in technology have transformed the field. From various certifications to unconventional career paths, we share insights that could guide aspiring technologists in making informed decisions. Join us for a playful yet informative exploration of the radiology profession, sprinkled with real-life anecdotes and practical advice to help you navigate your career successfully.
The conversation unfolds with a deep dive into the experiences and insights of two radiologic technologists who have spent decades in the field, revealing the intricacies of their profession. The hosts aim to demystify radiology for listeners, exploring its critical role in healthcare and the advanced technologies that are reshaping patient diagnosis and treatment. They share personal anecdotes that illustrate the challenges and triumphs faced throughout their careers, emphasizing how essential it is for aspiring radiologic technologists to seek out information and mentorship that was often lacking in their own education.
Throughout the episode, the hosts reflect on their career paths, discussing the pivotal moments that influenced their decisions. They illustrate how a lack of awareness about the various specialties within radiology can lead to missed opportunities, urging listeners to take a proactive approach to their education and career planning. This episode serves not only as a guide but also as a source of inspiration for those embarking on similar journeys, encouraging them to embrace the complexities and rewards of the radiology field.
Moreover, the hosts address the evolving landscape of radiology, showcasing how advancements in technology have broadened the scope of practice and created numerous avenues for professional growth. They discuss the importance of continuous learning and staying current with industry developments, presenting an optimistic view of the future of radiology and the ample opportunities it holds for newcomers. This episode is a treasure trove of wisdom, delivering a heartfelt narrative that resonates with both current professionals in the field and those contemplating a career in radiology.
Takeaways:
- Radiology technology offers diverse career paths, but early career mapping is essential for success.
- Understanding the various roles within radiology can help you make informed career decisions.
- Networking with your instructors and seeking guidance can significantly impact your career trajectory.
- Working PRN in radiology offers flexibility and can lead to higher income opportunities.
- Medical imaging is a vital profession, yet many are unaware of its expansive career options.
- Do not let others’ fears limit your potential; chart your own unique career journey.
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Transcript
Welcome to A Couple of Rad Tech's podcast, where we bring you an inside look at the world of radiology from the unique perspective of a married couple of radiologic technologists.
Speaker A:Together, we have over 30 years of experience in the field and are here to demystify the science of medical imaging.
Speaker A:Radiology is the unsung hero of the medical field, providing doctors with crucial images and information that help diagnose and treat illnesses.
Speaker A:Join us as we explore the latest techniques, technologies, and innovations in radiology, and discover the vital role we play in the healthcare industry.
Speaker A:So come along for the ride as we share our passion for radiology as a married couple.
Speaker B:What I wish I knew before I went to radiology technology school 22 years ago.
Speaker B:So, because I think this is a great conversation, many people ask me, what would you do differently?
Speaker B:Would you do anything differently?
Speaker B:22 years in the field, I am very blessed to have a profession to where I can actually work multiple types of jobs within my career.
Speaker B:You may say, how can you do that?
Speaker B:Well, I went to school for radiologic technology first, but none of my counselors in school knew anything about radiology.
Speaker B:Neither did I.
Speaker B:I actually had a family member and friend.
Speaker B:One was a radiology technologist, but I didn't know what he did.
Speaker B:The other was a respiratory therapist.
Speaker B:I really didn't know if she did, but I knew I loved her schedule and I loved his schedule, too.
Speaker B:So I wind up going to school.
Speaker B:My mom wanted me to go to school for nursing because that's all we're taught is you be a doctor, be a nurse, y'all.
Speaker B:I'm here to tell you I've been doing radiology for 22 years.
Speaker B:My husband almost 20 years.
Speaker B:I have several friends in the field that have been in longer than me and some that have been in less.
Speaker B:I didn't have the guidance that you all have today, especially with social media.
Speaker B:When I first got on social media talking about radiology, everything was more educational.
Speaker B:But really a day in a life like seeing what we do, seeing people that we can relate to, actually working in this field of radiology didn't really exist.
Speaker B:We have corporations now looking to advance our profession because they see how vital radiologic technology is.
Speaker B:Medical imaging is like the third largest medical profession in the nation, y'all.
Speaker B:I don't know if people really even know that.
Speaker B:And I didn't know that when I first got into it.
Speaker B:I had no clue.
Speaker B:I started in respiratory.
Speaker B:Let me go back.
Speaker B:I actually was doing hair all through school.
Speaker B:Went to school for cosmetology And I had multiple jobs after that ended and I wound up going back to school for respiratory therapy because I always stayed in college taking courses for me.
Speaker B:I'm always an avid learner and I always kept classes going.
Speaker B:So I decided, well, I'm going to go ahead and take this course and, you know, do that respiratory therapy.
Speaker B:I knew somebody that did it and they made really good money and they, they took good care of their families and they were happy.
Speaker B:They had all their bills paid, they were doing good.
Speaker B:So I'm like, yeah, that's what I'm going to do.
Speaker B:I shadowed and lasted a week and I went back to the college counselor and said, I don't think respiratory is for me.
Speaker B:So, yeah.
Speaker B:And she agreed it wasn't.
Speaker B:So she said, let me put you over in radiologic technology.
Speaker B:I'm like, what's that?
Speaker B:She was like, don't worry, you'll love it.
Speaker B:It's taking X rays of people's body.
Speaker B:I'm like, okay, yeah, that sounds pretty good.
Speaker B:I've heard of that before.
Speaker B:Now, mind you, I had had radiology exams before as a kid.
Speaker B:So I had all of these exams, but, you know, I never knew.
Speaker B:I thought they were nurses.
Speaker B:I know I can't be the only one that thought that.
Speaker B:I know I can't.
Speaker B:So that's where.
Speaker B:If you knew what you knew now, would you not join radiology first?
Speaker B:I would.
Speaker B:And what I would tell any of you now is really do your career path mapping early when it comes to medical imaging.
Speaker B:I'll tell you why I say that, because I did not map my career out.
Speaker B:If I would have known what I know now, I would have chosen different pathways.
Speaker B:As of right.
Speaker B:As of right now, I have diagnostic radiology as a certification.
Speaker B:I have CT and I have mri.
Speaker B:I've taken a mammal course, done clinical applications.
Speaker B:I've been in education and I've done research as well.
Speaker B:I've happened into a lot of those things.
Speaker B:They were not planned.
Speaker B:I didn't even know they existed.
Speaker B:And I've had opportunities to do many other things and technology has changed a lot.
Speaker B:So the opportunities that are available now to technologists in the radiology field were not available when I was coming out.
Speaker B:MRI was not even used like it is today.
Speaker B:So that's why I never really thought about going into mri because it really wasn't as advanced as it is now.
Speaker B:There wasn't a real need in that profession like there is now.
Speaker B:Connecticut was the up and coming.
Speaker B:It was doing great nuclear medicine.
Speaker B:PET was coming in and that's one of the things that wasn't really existing.
Speaker B:They were talking about radiologist assistant.
Speaker B:Then.
Speaker B:It wasn't a thing when I finished school, but there were other opportunities.
Speaker B:I had no clue you can go to school to be an ultrasound tech.
Speaker B:After going for radiology, all I knew when I went to radiology school was I was going to take X rays.
Speaker B:Once I got into the program, literally my first year, I started talking to technologists who were my clinical instructors in training, people who trained me and my instructors.
Speaker B:I had two instructors that I specifically looked at that were instrumental in me realizing, sean, you need to navigate your course as a radiologic technologist now, or you will not ever be able to really hit the trajectory or really to grow in your career if you don't do it.
Speaker B:Now.
Speaker B:Those two instructors had several certifications behind their name, not just the degrees.
Speaker B:They had the certifications.
Speaker B:One did qa, which was really big then qa.
Speaker B:She was big into mammo and some other things.
Speaker B:So I asked her, I asked her, I was like, tell me about your certifications.
Speaker B:And she gladly told me, sometimes you won't find out things unless you show an interest in that person and you ask, genuinely ask, and you show initiative.
Speaker B:I was very about my schooling when I was in school for radiology.
Speaker B:And when it came to my other instructor, he had almost every certification and one of them was radiation therapy.
Speaker B:And I was really fascinated by radiation therapy.
Speaker B:And he would always answer my questions and talk to me about that and tell me how good of a profession it was and how you the things you can do with radiation therapy.
Speaker B:Like he educated me on from there, you can go into medical dosimetry.
Speaker B:I was like, what is medical dosimetry?
Speaker B:A lot of people don't know about that profession.
Speaker B:They are a part of medical imaging, y'all.
Speaker B:And it is a very high level position.
Speaker B:And, you know, I.
Speaker B:I just didn't know a lot of things.
Speaker B:I didn't know that there was something called a clinical applications technologist.
Speaker B:There was a sales positions we could get.
Speaker B:I always knew.
Speaker B:I know a couple athletes and they didn't make it far in the NFL or they retired from after a few years in the NFL.
Speaker B:You know what they do?
Speaker B:Medical sales.
Speaker B:Now, that's the people I knew that were in medical sales.
Speaker B:Well, we can do it too.
Speaker B:We didn't even work for the FBI, y'all.
Speaker B:Like, there are jobs out there for medical professionals to even work as an FBI agent.
Speaker B:Who knew?
Speaker B:And that is why I'm telling you, I'm coming on this platform to really explain to you all the options that you have in medical imaging.
Speaker B:So if you have not subscribed yet, please do so right here.
Speaker B:And if you are looking to really learn more in depth, I have a podcast that comes out on a regular basis.
Speaker B:It is a top 5% radiology podcast.
Speaker B:It is entertaining, educational and all in between.
Speaker B:Go ahead and subscribe here and make sure you download episodes.
Speaker B:Listen, as you're driving in your car, make sure you leave me a review if you could please.
Speaker B:That really helps out.
Speaker B:And yeah, I am an open book about my what I've done, what I haven't done, and what I wish I had done.
Speaker B:Those are some of the things I wish I knew.
Speaker B:Because before I feel like my career has done well, but with some guidance and some knowledge beforehand, I feel like I could have made decisions that were based off of research and I didn't really have that, but I think I did pretty well.
Speaker B:I feel like I've done really well.
Speaker B:I've inspired several people that I know to go into the profession and they are very happy that they are able to have a life that is devoid of some of the basic struggles that people have being able to take care of their families.
Speaker B:I mean, people talked a lot of times about making six figures in radiologic technology or they want a job straight out of high school or straight out of college to make six figures.
Speaker B:That's not realistic.
Speaker B:I'll be honest with you.
Speaker B:Can it happen?
Speaker B:Yes, probably.
Speaker B:If you live in a high cost of living area, you're going to come out of school making six figures, but it's going to cost you those six figures just to rent a room from somebody to live.
Speaker B:You know, it's just.
Speaker B:It can be like that now.
Speaker B:There is money to be made in the profession, but again, it takes skills that you're going to have to acquire over time and it's not impossible.
Speaker B:But don't just be focused just on the money in this profession because money, you can make money.
Speaker B:Don't just be focused on the money because you have to make the money, but you also need the certifications that go along with that are going to take you a long have a long term effect on your career.
Speaker B:So you may not be looking to be in a job for 20, 30 years like your parents were.
Speaker B:I understand that.
Speaker B:I wasn't either.
Speaker B:I've never been on a job that long.
Speaker B:I think I was born in the wrong generation.
Speaker B:Personally, I do.
Speaker B:People have always felt like when I first started radiology I worked A full time job.
Speaker B:I had a PRN job first and a full time job, right.
Speaker B:And mixing that.
Speaker B:And I didn't stay very long.
Speaker B:I stayed about a little over a year and then I went to a management job that was full time.
Speaker B:I stayed in that for a little bit just to get my experience on my resume and use that to hone certain skills.
Speaker B:That's where I got my research skill from.
Speaker B:That's where I got certain other things I learned about the research.
Speaker B:And from there I got several research jobs after that.
Speaker B:So that one job opened up an opportunity down the road for me and connections as well as next moving on to another job that was full time but it had a really good schedule.
Speaker B:It was close to home at the time.
Speaker B:My father was really sick and I needed to be close at home around.
Speaker B:So that was that.
Speaker B:But other than that, when I started out, I stayed PRM for a really long time and fortunately have not had to get a full time job because of our professional radiology is we can work prn, per diem, travel, contract, all of those things.
Speaker B:And those are all options that we have working in radiology.
Speaker B:So I did those things.
Speaker B:And they were unconventional at that time because people that worked PRN usually were people that were just fill in people.
Speaker B:They usually had another full time job somewhere else.
Speaker B:But for me, I had a calendar.
Speaker B:my calendar back in the early:Speaker B:I had like five different hospitals that I was going to.
Speaker B:My calendar was packed, packed, packed with work and people couldn't understand why would I do that.
Speaker B:It gave me flexibility, it gave me higher income and I was confident in what I could do.
Speaker B:I didn't mind change, I didn't mind going to a new place with new people around me.
Speaker B:I was there to do a job and a job was there to do something for me which was pay me what I thought I was worth.
Speaker B:And then I have flexibility to where I was never in the politics of the stuff in the office because I didn't work there permanently.
Speaker B:I wasn't full time, I wasn't there all the time.
Speaker B:I'd be there maybe for a day or two a week or maybe one week solid and not come back for another month.
Speaker B:That's a beautiful thing.
Speaker B:But people were like, oh my goodness, you're not going to have work.
Speaker B:Other texts were like, you're not going to ever have any work.
Speaker B:You're going to be.
Speaker B:Since I started PRN in about:Speaker B:Never.
Speaker B:So do not let other people's scarcity mind or fear minds, fearful mindset come over to you.
Speaker B:Ignore them.
Speaker B:Don't even let people know your plans sometimes and when they find out your plans, because a lot of times on jobs people say, oh, you don't work.
Speaker B:You have kids.
Speaker B:Why don't you work full time?
Speaker B:Because I don't.
Speaker B:Or wow, how do you, how do you work when you just have prn?
Speaker B:That's not any guaranteed hours.
Speaker B:Well, the last time I checked, y'all, in healthcare, they do flex full timers out as well.
Speaker B:So there's no guaranteed hours for anybody, to be honest.
Speaker B:So really look at your situation when I say chart out your journey in this wonderful field of radiology.
Speaker B:Chart it out, y'all.
Speaker B:And be sure to give your sister a follow.
Speaker B:Let's support each other.
Speaker B:Let's get radiology on the map.
Speaker A:And that's a wrap for this episode of a couple of Brad Tech's Podcasts.
Speaker A:We hope you enjoyed our discussion of the fascinating world of radiology and learned learn something new about the role we play in the healthcare industry.
Speaker A:If you have any questions or topics that you love for us to cover, feel free to reach out and let.
Speaker B:Us know what they are.
Speaker A:And you guys, please, if you enjoyed this podcast or any of the other episodes, we want to hear what you thought.
Speaker A:Leave us a review.
Speaker A:Mama's got to pay our bills.
Speaker B:It helps.
Speaker A:And until next time, stay tuned for more insightful and informative episodes of a couple of Rad Tech's podcast.