Why choose a radiology career in the healthcare industry?

If you are looking for a career that is personally fulfilling, monetarily rewarding, free from boring routine, and open to upward mobility, then radiology is a perfect choice.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

Programs in Radiologic Technology are generally two to three years, and provide you with an Associate's Degree upon completion. During the program, you will take classes in everything from Anatomy and Physiology, to Radiation Biology and Patient Care. Additionally, you will have "on the job" training through a series of clinical rotations which will expose you to every kind of procedure, exam, and modality offered in this field. Upon completion of the program, you will take a standardized "board" exam in order to get your license, and will then be qualified to work in any hospital, clinic, or doctor's office.

For those who are not interested in hospital work, and would prefer to simply do routine X-rays in clinics and doctor's offices, some states offer a "limited" radiography program. These programs generally take nine months to one year, and qualify the graduate to take basic X-rays. Graduates of these programs cannot work in hospitals and cannot perform any radiologic exams using contrast agents (medicines injected into the patient to provide better visualization of internal organs).

PERSONAL FULFILLMENT

Radiology, and indeed any career in healthcare, provides a fantastic opportunity for personal fulfillment through helping others. Illness is an unavoidable part of life, and helping others on their path to wellness can be very rewarding. As a radiographer, you will have the opportunity to work with many different kinds of people who all have one thing in common: illness or suspected illness. As a radiographer, not only will you have the opportunity to aid in the diagnosis - and therefore ultimate treatment - of patients, but you will have the opportunity to cultivate compassion, broaden your cultural horizons, and learn a great deal about health, well-being, and the human body. It would be difficult to be an excellent radiographer and not come away as an all-around better human being. 

MONETARY CONSIDERATIONS

Careers in radiology are some of the most financially rewarding in the healthcare industry. From the radiologists on down, people working in the radiology department are generally compensated very well. Most new graduates from radiography programs can expect to make around $20 an hour to start. If you are good at what you do, this can increase very rapidly. Most

hospitals need and want employees to work overtime and on-call, and this is another way in which radiographers can increase their income dramatically. Furthermore, hospitals generally provide good health insurance and other benefits, and provide for vacation and sick time as needed. 

NEVER A DULL MOMENT

For those people stuck in office jobs and other careers that are dull, routine, and boring, careers in radiology provide a perfect alternative. I spent nearly ten years working in cubicles, pulling my hair out in boredom and constantly feeling underappreciated, underpaid, and unrecognized by the corporate bureaucracy. Although hospitals are certainly corporations, and can be as guilty of corporate shenanigans as the next company, work as a radiographer is never dull, boring, or routine. You get the opportunity to work in emergency departments where nothing is ever predictable, you run fluoroscopy during various surgical procedures, you take part in diagnostic cardiac and pulmonary exams, and you may even get the opportunity (if it is something you are interested in) to take X-rays as part of autopsies. If you are looking for a career that will give you something new and exciting every day, radiology is at the top of the list. 

UPWARD MOBILITY

Radiology is one of the most wide-open fields in the healthcare industry. Registered radiographers have the opportunity for on-the-job training in fields such as MRI and CT. Additionally, with a little bit of extra schooling, radiographers can become licensed in ultrasound, nuclear medicine, and radiation therapy. All of these modalities offer great pay and high demand. I personally know of at least one MRI tech who makes over $90K per year. Additionally, for those wishing to stay in radiography, there are opportunities for advancement into leadership positions, including Team Leader, Chief Technician, and even head of the Radiology Department. 

THE TIME IS NOW

For young people looking for a good career, or for folks simply wanting to make better money and get out of a boring, unrewarding career, radiology is one of the best choices you could make. You have the opportunity to be personally fulfilled, make a great salary in a high demand job, have a career that is dynamic and never dull, and move upward as your qualifications and performance dictate. But the time to act is now. The choice that I treasure most in regards to entering the field of radiology was the choice to do it when I did, and not to wait any longer.

Information About Jobs in Radiology

Radiology technicians are trained in using the various type of radiology equipment. Medical students seeking jobs in radiology have several choices. They can focus on jobs related to certain parts of the body or jobs based on the type of radiology tools in use. Administrative positions and traveling radiology careers are additional alternatives. Most radiology jobs require close contact with patients undergoing treatment. The radiology technician both explains and performs procedures.

Body Part Specialized Radiology Jobs

1. Radiology offersmany specialties. Breast radiology focuses on illnesses of the breast, such as breast cancer. Cardiovascular radiology focuses on diseases of the blood system-the arteries, veins and heart. Chest radiology focuses on heart and lung diseases or the thorax region of the body. Both hard tissue and bony areas are covered. GI (gastrointestinal) radiology focuses on illnesses of the gastrointestinal tract and the stomach.

Technology Specialized Radiology Jobs

2. Students who wish to center their radiology careers around radiation technology can specialize in areas including computer tomography (CT) scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs), flouoroscopy, ultrasound, nuclear radiology, positron emission scanners or sonography.

Traveling Radiology Jobs

3. Traveling radiology technicians go from medical center to medical center, usually covering hospitals that have no qualified radiology technicians on staff. They may also visit nursing homes or laboratories.

Therapy Radiology Jobs

4. Therapy radiation jobs focus on providing therapy for cancer patients, usually at oncology centers. The radiation therapy technician controls the machine used to focus radiation on cancer cells.

Radiology Nursing Jobs

5. Radiology nurses assess patients and document and implement treatment plans. They also educate both patient and family members regarding radiology treatment.

Administrative and Related Radiology Jobs

6. Administrative radiology positions involve the planning, direction and coordination of radiology activities in a medical facility. Radiology schedulers are responsible for scheduling radiology procedures. Radiology coders are responsible for correctly coding radiology procedures so that the facility is reimbursed for treatment.

Radiology Career Training

Radiology technologists and technicians undergo at least two years of training on the basics of the medical imaging profession. They may also opt for more advanced specialized training.

Positions

1. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people enter the medical radiology field as either radiologic technicians or radiologic technologists. Technicians perform standard X-ray imaging, while technologists work with digital imaging technologies.

Skills

2. Radiology training includes studies of imaging techniques, radiation and how to work with it safely, medical terminology, patient care and professional ethical concerns.

Education

3. Most radiologic technicians and technologists complete an associate's degree program, although some earn a bachelor's degree and others opt for a 24-month certification program.

Licensing and Certification

4. Radiology workers meet state licensing criteria as required by federal law. The American Registry of Radiologic Technologists administers exams for required licensing and voluntary certifications.

Specialized Training

5. In addition to the basic training radiology workers receive, the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists offers specialized training and certification in computed tomography scanning, mammography and other areas.

Many Nations Passing U.S. in Education, Expert Says

One of the world’s foremost experts on comparing national school systems told lawmakers on Tuesday that many other countries were surpassing the United States in educational attainment, including Canada, where he said 15-year-old students were, on average, more than one school year ahead of American 15-year-olds.

America’s education advantage, unrivaled in the years after World War II, is eroding quickly as a greater proportion of students in more and more countries graduate from high school and college and score higher on achievement tests than students in the United States, said Andreas Schleicher, a senior education official at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, which helps coordinate policies for 30 of the world’s richest countries.

“Among O.E.C.D. countries, only New Zealand, Spain, Turkey and Mexico now have lower high school completion rates than the U.S.,” Mr. Schleicher said. About 7 in 10 American students get a high school diploma.

Mr. Schleicher’s comments came in testimony before the Senate education committee and in a statement he delivered. The panel plans to rewrite the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the main law governing federal policy on public schools.

The committee also heard from Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, the largest teachers’ union; John Castellani, president of the Business Roundtable, a group that represents corporate executives; and Charles Butt, chief executive of a supermarket chain in Texas, who said employers there faced increasing difficulties in hiring qualified young workers.

The blame for America’s sagging academic achievement does not lie solely with public schools, Mr. Butt said, but also with dysfunctional families and a culture that undervalues education. “Schools are inheriting an overentertained, distracted student,” he said.

Senator Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who leads the Senate Committee, picked up on that comment. “Overentertained and distracted — that’s right,” Mr. Harkin said. “The problem lies with many kids before they get to school, and if we don’t crack that nut, we’re going to continue to patch and fill.”

Mr. Schleicher based many of his international comparisons on data from the O.E.C.D. Program for International Student Assessment, which tests students in scores of countries every three years in math, reading or science.

He said Finland had the world’s “best performing education system,” partly because of its highly effective way of recruiting, training and supporting teachers.

South Korea, he said, which was in economic ruin after World War II, today is an economic dynamo partly because of its educational attainment, which, among other measures, has achieved a 96 percent high school graduation rate, the world’s highest.

Poland, Mr. Schleicher said, is improving its education system most rapidly. In less than a decade, it raised the literacy skills of its 15-year-olds by the equivalent of almost a school year. “If the U.S. would raise the performance of schools by a similar amount,” he said, “that could translate into a long-term economic value of over 40 trillion dollars.”

America’s system of standards, curriculums and testing controlled by states and local districts with a heavy overlay of federal rules is a “quite unique” mix of decentralization and central control, Mr. Schleicher said. More successful nations, he said, maintain central control over standards and curriculum, but give local schools more freedom from regulation, he said.

“The question for the U.S. is not just how many charter schools it establishes,” he said, “but how to build the capacity for all schools to assume charter-like autonomy, as happens in some of the best-performing education systems.”

“In one way, international education benchmarks make disappointing reading for the U.S.,” he said.

Many States Adopt National Standards for Their Schools

Less than two months after the nation’s governors and state school chiefs released their final recommendations for national education standards, 27 states have adopted them and about a dozen more are expected to do so in the next two weeks.

Their support has surprised many in education circles, given states’ long tradition of insisting on retaining local control over curriculum.

The quick adoption of common standards for what students should learn in English and math each year from kindergarten through high school is attributable in part to the Obama administration’s Race to the Top competition. States that adopt the standards by Aug. 2 win points in the competition for a share of the $3.4 billion to be awarded in September.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Arne Duncan, the secretary of education. “This has been the third rail of education, and the fact that you’re now seeing half the nation decide that it’s the right thing to do is a game-changer.”

Even Massachusetts, which many regard as having the nation’s best education system — and where the proposed standards have been a subject of bitter debate — is expected to adopt the standards on Wednesday morning. New York signed up on Monday, joining Connecticut, New Jersey and other states that have adopted the standards, though the timetable for actual implementation is uncertain.

Some supporters of the standards, like Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, worry that the rush of states to sign up — what Ms. Weingarten calls the “Race to Adopt” — could backfire if states do not have the money to put the standards in effect.

“I’m already watching the ravages of the recession cutting the muscle out of efforts to implement standards,” she said. “If states adopt these thoughtful new standards and don’t implement them, teachers won’t know how to meet them, yet they will be the basis on which kids are judged.”

The effort has been helped by financial backing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to most of the organizations involved in drafting, evaluating and winning support for the standards. The common core standards, two years in the making and first released in draft form in March, are an effort to replace the current hodgepodge of state policies.

They lay out detailed expectations of skills that students should have at each grade level. Second graders, for example, should be able to read two-syllable words with long vowels, while fifth graders should be able to add and subtract fractions with different denominators.

Adoption of the standards does not bring immediate change in the classroom. Implementation will be a long-term process, as states rethink their teacher training, textbooks and testing.

Those states that are not winners in the Race to the Top competition may also have less incentive to follow through in carrying out the standards.

“The heavy lifting is still ahead, and the cynic in me says that when 20 states don’t get Race to the Top money, we’ll see how sincere they are,” said Chester E. Finn Jr., president of an education research group in Washington, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a longtime advocate of national standards. “They could just sit on their hands, chill out and say, ‘Well, we don’t really have the money right now to retrain our teachers.’ ”

Yet even promises of support for national standards are a noteworthy shift. Many previous efforts to set national standards have made little headway. In 1995, for example, the Senate rejected proposed history standards by a vote of 99 to 1.

The problem of wide variations in state standards has become more serious in recent years, as some states weakened their standards to avoid being penalized under the federal No Child Left Behind law. This time, the standards were developed by the states themselves, not the federal government. Last year, the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers convened English and math experts to put together benchmarks for each grade.

Texas and Alaska said they did not want to participate in developing the standards. And Virginia has made it known that it does not plan to adopt the standards.

Increasingly, national standards are seen as a way to ensure that children in all states will have access to a similar education — and that financially strapped state governments do not have to spend limited resources on developing their own standards and tests.

“We’ll have states working together for the first time on curriculum, textbooks, assessment,” said Mr. Duncan. “This will save the country billions of dollars.”

An analysis by Mr. Finn’s institute, to be released Wednesday, determined that the new common core standards are stronger than the English standards in 37 states and the math standards in 39 states.

In most others, the report found that the existing standards are similar enough to the proposed common core standards that it was impossible to say which were better.

States that adopt the standards are allowed to have additional standards, as long as the common core represents at least 85 percent of their English and mathematics standards.

In closely watched Massachusetts, even those who see the common core standards as a comedown for a state whose students score highly on national assessment tests say they have lost the battle.

“They’re definitely going to be adopted,” said Jim Stergios, executive director of Pioneer Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy organization.

Mr. Stergios’ group found the common standards less rigorous than Massachusetts’ existing ones.

“Vocabulary-building in the common core is slower,” he said, citing one example. “And on the math side, they don’t prepare eighth-grade students for algebra one, which is the gateway to higher math.”

Others analyzing the two sets of standards disagreed.

Achieve Inc., a Washington-based education reform group, found the common core standards “more rigorous and coherent.” WestEd, a research group that evaluated the standards for the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, found them comparable. And Mr. Finn’s group said the Massachusetts standards and the common core standards were “too close to call.”

But Mr. Stergios pointed out that the other groups had either funding from the Gates Foundation or connections to those who developed the standards.

“We’re really the only ones who had no dog in this fight,” he said.