November 28, 2024 • 32 mins
Welcome to a couple of rad techs, where Chaundria dives into the fascinating world of radiology and answers your burning questions in a lively Q&A session. This episode highlights the distinction between radiologic technologists and radiologists, clarifying that while techs take the images, it's the radiologists who interpret them. Chaundria emphasizes the importance of choosing accredited programs for aspiring radiologic technologists, detailing how to navigate the educational landscape and the significance of understanding accreditation for career success. From discussing the realities of working in the field to offering guidance on pay negotiations for new grads, she shares valuable insights that can help shape your career in medical imaging. With a playful tone and a wealth of experience, Chandria makes the intricate world of radiology accessible and engaging for everyone.
Chaundria’s live Q&A session serves as a comprehensive guide to understanding the role of radiologic technologists, dispelling myths, and providing valuable insights for aspiring professionals in medical imaging. She begins by defining the core responsibilities of radiologic technologists, emphasizing their expertise in capturing images using various technologies, including ultrasound and MRI, while clarifying the distinction between their roles and those of radiologists. This foundational understanding is crucial for anyone considering a career in this field, as it highlights the collaborative nature of healthcare and the importance of each role within the patient care continuum.
Throughout the session, Chaundria addresses key questions from her audience about educational pathways and the importance of accreditation. She passionately advocates for prospective students to thoroughly research programs, ensuring they choose accredited institutions that will prepare them for licensure and employment. Her practical advice includes checking the reputation of schools, understanding their accreditation status, and assessing the qualifications of educators. This emphasis on education reflects her commitment to ensuring that future radiologic technologists are well-prepared to meet the challenges of the profession.
Chaundria’s insights extend beyond education as she tackles the realities of entering the job market. With a blend of humor and realism, she discusses the pay scales for new graduates, particularly in regions like Florida, where the allure of sunny beaches can affect salary expectations. She encourages new professionals to prioritize gaining experience and advancing their education over immediate salary gains, highlighting the long-term benefits of investing in their careers. By the end of the session, Chaundria leaves her audience not only informed about the intricacies of radiologic technology but also inspired to pursue their passions with confidence and clarity.
Takeaways:
- Radiologic technologists are not radiologists and do not interpret medical images.
- To become a radiologic technologist, you must complete an accredited educational program.
- When choosing a radiologic technology program, ensure it is accredited by ARRT for licensing.
- A career in radiology can include various specialties, offering room for growth and advancement.
- Negotiating salary as a new grad should consider experience, education, and benefits offered.
- Networking through professional societies is essential for career development in radiology.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- ARRT
- JRCERT
- Emory University School of Medicine
- University of Alaska
radiology, radiologic technologist, medical imaging, ultrasound, MRI, CT scan, radiology schools, radiologic...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:37):
Welcome to a couple of rad techs.
My name is Chandria, and I amtalking all things radiology here.
We are doing a live questionand answer, and I'm excited to be
here, you guys.
So I hope you all can see thecomment section.
You are able to comment if youwould like to.
I would love, love, love to beable to see what you guys are, you
(00:59):
know, questions you have.
I want to be able to make sureI can answer those questions.
We're going to get right into it.
I've got my phone here, and Iam actually going to be answering
questions from my TikTok page.
And why?
Because people are alwaysasking me questions on TikTok and
I want to be able to answer them.
And today we're doing just that.
So if you guys have anyquestions, first of all, be sure
(01:21):
to go ahead and drop them inthe comments so that way I can be
able to end the live chat so Ican be able to answer those questions.
If you have questions rightnow, I can do just that.
So let's get into it.
I just want to make sure I'vegot my chat open here.
Let me go over there.
Yep, there we go.
Okay, I've got the chat andI've got my phone.
(01:41):
So first question.
First, let me tell you what aradiologic technologist is.
We take imaging usingradiation, using sound waves for
ultrasound.
We use radioisotopes that areinjected into a patient.
We use live fluoro, which isradiation, and we use sound waves.
(02:05):
And yeah, that is really it.
I might have missed one.
But radio waves as well, mri.
So not all parts of medicalimaging use radiation.
I don't know if you knew that,but we don't always use radiation.
Sometimes we use sound waves.
But many people wonder, are we radiologists?
So let's first get that out ofthe way.
(02:25):
We are not radiologists.
We are not radiologists.
We do not interpret the images.
The radiologist is the doctor.
And that doctor actually goesto school to become a medical doctor.
And then they specialize, justlike your surgeons specialize in
doing surgeries.
(02:46):
We do the opposite.
Our radiologists, excuse me,do the opposite.
And they actually specializein reading exams, whether it be MRI,
CT, musculoskeletal.
They also do procedures.
So we work alongside theradiologist in doing procedures,
such as putting in ports,putting in removing blockages under
(03:10):
live flora, also doing bariumswallows, where patients need to
swallow a barium contrast.
That allows the doctor to beable to tell if this patient has
any issues going on with theirswallowing or with their.
Or just with them, period.
So that is pretty much it.
(03:31):
How it goes with radiology.
A lot of people just wonderlike what do you guys do all day?
So I thought that was prettyinteresting to share with you all.
And yeah, let's get right into it.
So here we go.
Got my phone here.
I'm going to go through the questions.
Good evening.
Hope all is well.
(03:52):
Wanted to ask if you knowabout any program, programs to get
into radiologic technology?
Yes, I do.
So what I encourage people todo if you want to find a program,
make sure that program isaccredited, which means they have
the curriculum that isactually backed by.
(04:13):
Excuse me, that's actuallybacked by the accreditation, like
the jrcert, that is theEducation Governance.
There are other agencies aswell that govern education.
But you want to make sure theschool that you have has a good reputation.
Reputation is not under anykind of stipulations by these governing
agencies that might mean thatthey could lose their accreditation.
(04:36):
Have they had any deans?
You can look, all of that ispublic knowledge.
You can go online to theiraccreditation boards that they claim
to be accredited by and see ifthey've had any kind of slap on the
hand.
Schools get slaps on the handtoo, by accrediting boards and they
basically break down whatthose schools need to work on.
(04:58):
Maybe they found that theyhave too many students and not enough
educators.
They don't have enoughstudents passing the final exams
of the state boards.
That's the telltale sign ofpossibly the quality of education
that's going on with that program.
(05:22):
And the other issue is goingto be making sure that the program
has basically educators thatare qualified to teach so and that
they're teaching the studentsexactly what the curriculum says
and that the outcomes matchwhat they're saying.
Which means if students comeinto this school saying you're going
(05:44):
to give them this type ofeducation and they're going to walk
away understanding and knowingthis, and then they leave and they're
not, then that's a problem.
So you become.
I'm going to share my screenso you can be able to see what programs.
(07:04):
There we go.
I'm going to see if I can do that.
There we go.
Perfect.
So I am going to share myscreen and then you'll be able to
see how it is that I find programs.
So there's a website that youguys need to go to.
It is going to be arrt.orgthis is very important that you go
(07:26):
to this particular websitebecause you want to be able to sit
for Your license.
So a school may have anaccreditation by an education board
like the JRCR cert, but theyalso need to be accredited by the
arrt, a licensing board.
They need to have thataccreditation by them as well.
(07:47):
Because this is how you aregoing as a radiology technologist.
Be able to work in hospitalsand to be able to work in facilities
that require you to have yourARRT license.
So if a school does not havethat and they may have the armor
it license and not the art,but you were going there thinking,
oh, I'm going to be able tosit for my arrt, you're not.
(08:07):
Because that school does notfollow the curriculum of the arrt.
They follow the curriculum andare accredited by the army certification.
So it's important that youknow in becoming a radiologic technologist,
what schools and who they'reaccredited by and are they still
holding up to that accreditation?
Are they on, what is it called?
(08:28):
Not suspension, but are in probation.
Schools can be on probation as well.
So if this school is onprobation and you're in, their probation
period ends on 2026 and you'reset to graduate 2027.
What if they lose theiraccreditation in 2026?
What happens?
That has happened.
(08:48):
So you want to do yourresearch before going into this school.
So you're going to go to thewebsite and you're going to get to
this page and it's find aneducational program.
You are going to let me get toit, then I can actually show it.
So you're going to go downhere and choose what program are
you interested in going to?
Let me just explain this alittle bit because it might be confusing.
(09:08):
Why does it give you all ofthese options?
Can you choose all of these?
What if you don't want to goto school for radiography at first?
Okay, so can I just go tothese other ones?
Yes and no.
There are primary pathways tobecoming a radiologic technologist.
Let's see if we can start here.
So if you want to, here's anoverview of our profession.
(09:32):
We are actually radiologic technologists.
That is our bread and butter.
That is where we start.
You find educational programsby clicking on the ARRT approved
educational programs.
You can search by discipline.
We're going to go back to thatarea and we're going to find that.
But first, what it is, what isit that we do?
I already told you what aradiologist does.
(09:53):
But what is it that we do?
As radiologic technologists?
We make up the third largestgroup of healthcare professionals,
surpassed in number only byphysicians and nurses.
Wow.
So that's, that's amazing.
We do have a primaryresponsibility as technologists.
We create the images ofpatients bodies using medical equipment.
(10:14):
We don't work on the equipment.
That's why we're not technicians.
The working on equipment toget these images is not the only
thing that we do.
We have to manipulate.
We have to know science, wehave to know math, we have to know
geometry, part of that math.
And depending on whatprofession we're in.
And we have to understandpathology and anatomy and patient
(10:35):
care and put all of thosethings together and get the best
possible images the safest way.
Sometimes we have to injectradiopharmaceutical agents into patients,
sometimes they have to drink them.
We have to do all of these things.
We have to dose the patient.
We have to understand what'sgoing on with the patient's body
(10:55):
in order to make sure thatthey are supposed to get these things.
You know, it's not like wejust, oh, here you go, Boom.
Drink this.
We have to understand what thepatient's background is, what they're
going through, what wouldtheir work day be like.
So it requires advanced education.
That's a minimum of two yearsto become a radiologic technologist.
(11:16):
Right.
So that is, that's two years.
We have a degree programthat's not any weekend course.
If someone's promising you aweekend course to become a radiologic
technology technologist,you're not going to be a radiologic
technologist.
So just know the difference.
When you're choosing a school,it must be giving you actual degree.
(11:39):
Minimum of an associate's degree.
Some programs have bachelor'sdegrees as well.
You also want to make surethat if you choose radiologic technology
that you understand, you mostlikely work in a hospital, physician's
office, outpatient center,even a laboratory.
We work in differentfacilities, but it just depends.
(12:01):
You're not stuck in one or the other.
We also can travel.
Just like you hear aboutnurses being travelers, we can be
travelers as well.
We can work and make money traveling.
It's been, it's not new.
We've.
I've been doing it for years.
I started traveling in 2005.
It's been around for a long time.
We're not a new profession,but we really enjoy what we do and
(12:24):
we get to help patients in our specialty.
So we have professionalsocieties that we can join and we
really encourage that.
We have several here that are listed.
The ARRT is our licensing board.
These are all associations,not mandatory, but it is highly encouraged
(12:44):
that you join theseAssociations, that's where you network,
that's where you learn.
You can gain CE credits, theycan track your CE credits for you.
It's so much that can happenby being a part of the professional
membership societies.
So if you are thinking ofbecoming a radiologic technologist,
if you are one, look up yourlocal chapter, join and see what
(13:06):
benefits you can provide andalso what they can provide for you.
Now, how do you choose these professions?
I personally went to become a radiographer.
A radiologic technologist.
That's what I went first.
It shows radiography.
That is the actual, actual profession.
That is what I went to school for.
I got my associate's degree inthat program from Emory University
(13:29):
School of Medicine's imaging program.
School of Medicine doesgraduate more than doctors for some
reason.
People are very confused on that.
But my degree is from theschool of medicine.
It's not from the imagingprogram, it's from the school of
medicine.
Some people like are reallylike taken aback, like with that.
But there are schools ofmedicine that graduate doctors.
(13:53):
They graduate physicaltherapists and many others, radiologic
technologists.
And yeah, I just always knewschools of medicine graduated more
than doctors.
Obviously there are some outthere that don't know that even who
work in healthcare.
So I'm here to tell you thatis the case.
And yeah, it's many people outthere who have a degree from a school
of medicine that are not doctors.
(14:15):
So let's celebrate.
Everyone, no matter whatschool they went to, educational
programs for the ARRT that youcan choose from that are ARRT backed.
Let's just take radiography.
This is what you do.
(15:38):
You click on it, boom, watchall that pops up.
Now this filters it by 10, I'mgoing to do it by 100.
And there we have 757 items.
You guys, that is a lot ofradiology schools.
Just a lot.
And it's from Canada to, Ithink it's Great Britain and the
usa.
These are huge.
You can look at theinstitutions here, the app address,
the city, the state, thedirector's name and phone number
(16:01):
if known.
If not, if you want to justfilter by city, I'm going to filter
by state.
State is good.
If you just take Anchorage,Alaska, they have one school, the
University of Alaska has aradiologic technology program.
You can go to that website andyou can learn about their program.
These are all programs.
(16:22):
And then once you go to theirwebsite, you can find out do they
have JRCERT accreditation.
Once you figured that out,then you want to, oh, wow, okay,
let me check out and See, havethey been under probation?
Have they followed through ontheir education?
All of those things.
You want to make sure you'relooking at all of those things when
you're looking for a school.
How's that?
(16:42):
Does that help?
Now, let's look at these here.
This was a good question thatpeople asked and they want to know,
what if I don't want to go toschool to be a radiologic technologist
and I want to do one of these things?
So you can do what they call aprimary pathway or you can do a secondary.
My primary pathway isradiologic technology.
(17:03):
That's how I got into the profession.
Some people get into it bybeing an MRI technologist, that is
their primary pathway.
Or a sonographer, that istheir primary pathway.
Radiation therapy or nuclearmedicine are primary pathways as
well.
Which means what is yournumber one way of getting into medical
imaging?
(17:25):
Why did I leave outradiologist assistant?
Because that is not a primary pathway.
Why did I leave out vascular sonography?
Because it falls under sonography.
So if you go into sonography,that's the other one.
So there are primary pathwaysthat are not just radiography to
intermedical imaging.
You can use any of theseothers as sub radiologist assistant
(17:45):
to enter the profession.
Now, this is the clincher.
If you come in as a primarypathway of radiology, radiologic
technology, radiography, youthen can do any of the professions.
All 11 are open to you.
With another few months oranother year of certification.
They're open to you.
(18:05):
But there's a caveat to theother ones.
If you use the other ones as aprimary pathway, you cannot do anything
but those professions.
You cannot say, oh, I do mri,I want to go over to ct, or I want
to go over to radiationtherapy, or I want to go over to
bone density, I want to go to mammography.
No, you will have to thenbecome a radiographer first and then
(18:27):
take certification to get backinto those.
Because these other pathwaysdo not qualify you.
They don't fall under theradiology or the radiography curriculum.
So you did not learn radiologybecause those principles don't follow.
Sonography, that uses soundwaves, radiation therapy, nuclear
medicine, magnetic resonanceimaging, none of those use radiation,
(18:50):
if that makes sense.
So radiologist assistant does,and you learn all of those principles
in going to school to be aradiologic technologist.
So I hope that was veryhelpful to your question.
Let's take another question.
I'm going to stop sharing hereso we can see.
Let's see.
Perfect.
Okay, so let's get intoanother question.
(19:12):
That was great.
I'm so glad we were able toanswer that.
Let's try another one.
Have I ever considered being amentor to people who want to go to
school to be a radiology technologist?
That's a great question.
And yes, I do mentor.
I have my books field, but Ido mentor.
(19:34):
There are several of myfriends whose kids are interested
in doing something and they'vetold them about radiology.
Some of them have gone toschool for medical imaging, ultrasound,
sonography.
Others have gone to school forradiology and they love it.
They absolutely love it.
They can take care of themselves.
They got some schooling withintwo years and are going back learning,
(19:58):
getting more education, butloving the profession.
Their parents are very happy.
Their kids could take care of themselves.
And yeah, so that's how Ichoose to mentor.
I also go into schools andeducate the younger ones on our profession.
So that is really cool.
Okay, let's do another question.
(20:24):
That one.
Okay, so that one wasn'treally a question.
Let's see.
Okay, that's not a question.
I have a lot of questionshere, but okay.
Oh, this is a good one.
I literally am in the processof making the change going into the
change of radiology.
I'm about to start myprerequisites for the radiography
(20:44):
program and I felt like I wastoo old making a career.
Career change.
So I have a whole video on that.
You guys.
Are you too old to go back toschool for radiology?
I don't think so.
I was not straight out of highschool when I went.
Was it hard?
It was an adjustment to beback in school full time.
That was a little roughbecause I had come from working the
(21:05):
working profession and livingon my own and working every day to.
And I took a class here or there.
But it was different being inschool full time and testing every
other day every week andstudying, coming home, studying,
studying.
It was a lot.
It was a lot to adjust to.
But I will say, when you'retaking your prerequisites, use that
(21:26):
as your time to be able tosay, okay, this is how I'm going
to focus.
This is get your study routine together.
That's your time before youactually get accepted into the program
to get your routine.
Get your mind in a place whereit's used to studying because it's
maybe been out of that routine.
If you're like me, you are working.
(21:48):
So yeah, that's what I would say.
Get your mind in a position towhere you are ready for it and use
the prerequisites time to dothat so hopefully you find that helpful.
Hopefully that was helpful.
That came from Rachel.
Let's see.
I've got another question.
I've got some good ones here.
Okay.
(22:10):
Hello.
Can you give us somesuggestions when negotiating new
grad CT pay?
We live in Florida and basepay is $28 an hour.
We like to ask for at least 33to 35 an hour.
Can you please do a video onpay negotiations for new grads if
possible.
My daughter is the employee,I'm trying to help her out.
We love a mom that's helping adaughter out.
(22:31):
That's right, moms, you got tohelp these kids out.
But okay, so I will say this.
I've never worked in Floridaas a technologist, but I have done
contract work down there asclinical applications.
And from the technologiststhat I've talked to, they said the
same thing.
South Florida in particularly,but Florida does not pay well.
(22:54):
One of the reasons probably isand that I've heard from a lot of
recruiters and from peoplethat I know, they just want, and
they just want to live in Florida.
They don't really care aboutthe pay like that.
They don't want to liveanywhere else.
There are some people thatthey are not interested in living
in cold climates.
They love the beach, they lovethe food.
(23:15):
They love to be able to haveflip flops on all day every day.
They don't want to go anywherecolder than that.
They're perfectly fine down inFlorida near the water.
And there's a price you payfor that.
You pay for the convenience ofhaving beautiful weather year round.
You pay for the beingcomfortable, you know, having that
(23:38):
type of lifestyle, that Miami,Fort Lauderdale lifestyle, that beach
lifestyle.
It's expensive, but you payfor it in other ways because everybody
wants it.
They don't have a shortage ofworkers down there.
We rarely get kind contractjobs down in Florida.
And the reason is becauseeverybody wants to live there.
And the other party is.
So you're not going to see alot of high wages like you will in
(23:59):
other places because everybodydoesn't want to live in Wyoming.
That's why you see agency jobsin Wyoming and you know, places that
are freezing cold or placesthat, you know, just nobody wants
to live.
Wyoming is beautiful by the way.
I have friends that livethere, have a huge ranch and it's
beautiful.
So I'm not saying that it'sjust every place is not going to
(24:23):
be the place that everybody'sgoing to flock to.
They don't have the pick ofthe litter when it comes to staff
so then the staff that arethere, the people that are willing
to live there, they say, hey,show me the money.
And if you're living inFlorida, your daughter's going to
stay in Florida.
She has to, she has tointerview around.
This is what I tell people.
If you're a new grad,interview at every hospital that's
(24:45):
hired that you're willing todrive to.
Why?
Because now you can say, oh,hospital A is paying 23, hospital
B is paying 33.
Hospital C, down south.
All of these are in theradius, not too far from each other.
(25:06):
Maybe, you know, traffic is alittle heavier in one place or the
other.
But hospital c is paying 30and hospital D is paying.
What is that, 30.
They're paying 32.
So it kind of.
You're in that ballpark.
But I think we look at pay asthe ultimate answer to whether we
(25:29):
should accept a job.
Hospital A is a university hospital.
Trauma center B is a teaching.
Hospital C is attached to awhole conglomerate of hospitals where
we can pick up shiftseverywhere and we'll get great experience.
And D gives you free education.
(25:52):
All kind of incentives.
They have the best health care.
Your money they're taking outyour check is not a lot for insurance
because they have such a goodhealth care plan, but their pay isn't
the best.
You know, you have to look atall of those things, and that's what
I would teach my child is donot just look at the dollar sign
because you could be making $50.
(26:13):
She can make that 35.
But if she's at ABC Hospitaland they're working her like to the
bone, and her insurance is notthat good and she has to pay 400
a paycheck out per paycheckevery two weeks is 800amonth just
to have okay, insurance thatdoesn't really cover every time she
(26:34):
goes to the doctor, she has topay out the pocket, never meets her
deductible, and she doesn'thave to pay for her lunch, she doesn't
get any kind of incentives.
She doesn't, you know, like,there's no 401k match or very little.
They match 1%.
There's no education reimbursement.
If your child is just gettingout of school for radiology, they
(26:55):
should be looking at ahospital that is going to give them
the experience getting out of school.
They are not experienced.
Get the experience, get your money.
But don't expect to be paid atthe highest level because you have
not worked enough that you canbe a level two or a level three in
(27:16):
a hospital.
Setting.
And I just, I do CT and havedone it for years.
And I'm going to tell you, ittook me years before I could truly,
truly work in a setting alone.
You have to be able to do somuch as a CT technologist.
And people have seriousreactions during a CT scan.
I'mma tell you, I have never,in any modality I've done had as
(27:37):
many reactions as in a CT scan.
And it's like some of theoddest times that happen.
Like, you would look at thepatient and you're like, what?
They coded.
I just injected the contrast.
So, you know, just.
They have no allergies.
That's the kind of stuff that happens.
And if you're alone and you'redoing that kind of stuff, yeah, you,
you're supposed to call it acold team, but you still need to
(27:57):
be able to recognize certain things.
It's just, to me, when you're.
Just because you're out ofschool does not mean that you should
be trying to focus on andfighting for getting all this money
when you do not have theexperience that will really say you
should be paid.
Was somebody who has a lot ofexperience and can run a whole department
(28:20):
on their own without you oranybody else being in there.
There are techs out there thatcan run two machines and not have
any problems and know how towork everything out and put the IVs
in because they come down fromthe floor or come from the ER with
no IVs or IVs that don't work.
And you have to be able tokeep up with the pace, take your
patients back, bring yourpatients in sometimes, put in IVs,
(28:42):
drink them, and be scanningpeople at the same.
Like, there's so much to whatwe do.
And number two, you need to belooking also at what does this job
have to offer me?
Because if she's just gettingout of school, she should be looking,
in my opinion, at trying toget the experience.
Also see if you have education reimbursement.
(29:06):
Your employer at that point,while she's just getting out of school,
should be willing or have somekind of education assistance to pay
for her school.
While you're just getting outof school, go back and finish your
bachelor's, get anothercertification, finish ct, work on
your next one.
You should be working at afacility that is going to help you
(29:26):
to start early, to get moreeducation, to advance your certification,
to advance your degree in thefield of radiology.
And the money will come in amatter of a couple years.
I think about.
There are 11 specialties nowin radiology that I could be certified
in.
I've been doing this 22 years.
(29:47):
If I had done onecertification every two years, I
could have had them all or agood portion of them and gotten good
at a lot of them.
So that's what I say.
I say, you know, really lookat what's most important.
And the most important thingis a new graduate getting out of
school, getting paid, butrealizing you don't even know your
(30:10):
worth yet because you have notbeen in a situation where you have
had to work and prove yourself.
Working with a coworker doesnot mean an experienced coworker
does not mean that you knowhow to be a CT technologist.
To me, I've done MRCT and Xray for a long time, but CT to me
(30:31):
was one of Mr.
Has its own troubles andhardships, but CT required because
so many patients hadreactions, you had to really understand
what it is you were doing andrecognize issues before they happen.
Mr.
Is very similar, but CT peoplehave way more reactions than they
(30:54):
do in mri and they, theyhappen really fast.
Really, really fast.
And they could be as theperson is getting off the scanner,
walking out.
And if you're not observant asa CT technologist, you'll let somebody
walk right out and get intheir car and harm be done to them
because you didn't payattention to certain things that
only experience teaches you asa CT technologist.
(31:16):
So I hope this was a good 30minute conversation.
This has been a lot of fun for me.
This is my first time doingthe question and answer.
Wow.
Only reason I'm stopping isbecause I need something to drink.
My throat is dry and I don'twant to get to coughing on you all.
But thank you for joining meand I cannot wait to share more of
this Q A live session with youall here on on YouTube.
(31:38):
So until then, be sure tocheck out my other videos and give
me a subscribe and check me out.
Y'all have a great day andthank you again.
Welcome to a couple of rad techs.
My name is Chandria, and I amtalking all things radiology here.
We are doing a live questionand answer, and I'm excited to be
here, you guys.
So I hope you all can see thecomment section.
You are able to comment if youwould like to.
I would love, love, love to beable to see what you guys are, you
(00:59):
know, questions you have.
I want to be able to make sureI can answer those questions.
We're going to get right into it.
I've got my phone here, and Iam actually going to be answering
questions from my TikTok page.
And why?
Because people are alwaysasking me questions on TikTok and
I want to be able to answer them.
And today we're doing just that.
So if you guys have anyquestions, first of all, be sure
(01:21):
to go ahead and drop them inthe comments so that way I can be
able to end the live chat so Ican be able to answer those questions.
If you have questions rightnow, I can do just that.
So let's get into it.
I just want to make sure I'vegot my chat open here.
Let me go over there.
Yep, there we go.
Okay, I've got the chat andI've got my phone.
(01:41):
So first question.
First, let me tell you what aradiologic technologist is.
We take imaging usingradiation, using sound waves for
ultrasound.
We use radioisotopes that areinjected into a patient.
We use live fluoro, which isradiation, and we use sound waves.
(02:05):
And yeah, that is really it.
I might have missed one.
But radio waves as well, mri.
So not all parts of medicalimaging use radiation.
I don't know if you knew that,but we don't always use radiation.
Sometimes we use sound waves.
But many people wonder, are we radiologists?
So let's first get that out ofthe way.
(02:25):
We are not radiologists.
We are not radiologists.
We do not interpret the images.
The radiologist is the doctor.
And that doctor actually goesto school to become a medical doctor.
And then they specialize, justlike your surgeons specialize in
doing surgeries.
(02:46):
We do the opposite.
Our radiologists, excuse me,do the opposite.
And they actually specializein reading exams, whether it be MRI,
CT, musculoskeletal.
They also do procedures.
So we work alongside theradiologist in doing procedures,
such as putting in ports,putting in removing blockages under
(03:10):
live flora, also doing bariumswallows, where patients need to
swallow a barium contrast.
That allows the doctor to beable to tell if this patient has
any issues going on with theirswallowing or with their.
Or just with them, period.
So that is pretty much it.
(03:31):
How it goes with radiology.
A lot of people just wonderlike what do you guys do all day?
So I thought that was prettyinteresting to share with you all.
And yeah, let's get right into it.
So here we go.
Got my phone here.
I'm going to go through the questions.
Good evening.
Hope all is well.
(03:52):
Wanted to ask if you knowabout any program, programs to get
into radiologic technology?
Yes, I do.
So what I encourage people todo if you want to find a program,
make sure that program isaccredited, which means they have
the curriculum that isactually backed by.
(04:13):
Excuse me, that's actuallybacked by the accreditation, like
the jrcert, that is theEducation Governance.
There are other agencies aswell that govern education.
But you want to make sure theschool that you have has a good reputation.
Reputation is not under anykind of stipulations by these governing
agencies that might mean thatthey could lose their accreditation.
(04:36):
Have they had any deans?
You can look, all of that ispublic knowledge.
You can go online to theiraccreditation boards that they claim
to be accredited by and see ifthey've had any kind of slap on the
hand.
Schools get slaps on the handtoo, by accrediting boards and they
basically break down whatthose schools need to work on.
(04:58):
Maybe they found that theyhave too many students and not enough
educators.
They don't have enoughstudents passing the final exams
of the state boards.
That's the telltale sign ofpossibly the quality of education
that's going on with that program.
(05:22):
And the other issue is goingto be making sure that the program
has basically educators thatare qualified to teach so and that
they're teaching the studentsexactly what the curriculum says
and that the outcomes matchwhat they're saying.
Which means if students comeinto this school saying you're going
(05:44):
to give them this type ofeducation and they're going to walk
away understanding and knowingthis, and then they leave and they're
not, then that's a problem.
So you become.
I'm going to share my screenso you can be able to see what programs.
(07:04):
There we go.
I'm going to see if I can do that.
There we go.
Perfect.
So I am going to share myscreen and then you'll be able to
see how it is that I find programs.
So there's a website that youguys need to go to.
It is going to be arrt.orgthis is very important that you go
(07:26):
to this particular websitebecause you want to be able to sit
for Your license.
So a school may have anaccreditation by an education board
like the JRCR cert, but theyalso need to be accredited by the
arrt, a licensing board.
They need to have thataccreditation by them as well.
(07:47):
Because this is how you aregoing as a radiology technologist.
Be able to work in hospitalsand to be able to work in facilities
that require you to have yourARRT license.
So if a school does not havethat and they may have the armor
it license and not the art,but you were going there thinking,
oh, I'm going to be able tosit for my arrt, you're not.
(08:07):
Because that school does notfollow the curriculum of the arrt.
They follow the curriculum andare accredited by the army certification.
So it's important that youknow in becoming a radiologic technologist,
what schools and who they'reaccredited by and are they still
holding up to that accreditation?
Are they on, what is it called?
(08:28):
Not suspension, but are in probation.
Schools can be on probation as well.
So if this school is onprobation and you're in, their probation
period ends on 2026 and you'reset to graduate 2027.
What if they lose theiraccreditation in 2026?
What happens?
That has happened.
(08:48):
So you want to do yourresearch before going into this school.
So you're going to go to thewebsite and you're going to get to
this page and it's find aneducational program.
You are going to let me get toit, then I can actually show it.
So you're going to go downhere and choose what program are
you interested in going to?
Let me just explain this alittle bit because it might be confusing.
(09:08):
Why does it give you all ofthese options?
Can you choose all of these?
What if you don't want to goto school for radiography at first?
Okay, so can I just go tothese other ones?
Yes and no.
There are primary pathways tobecoming a radiologic technologist.
Let's see if we can start here.
So if you want to, here's anoverview of our profession.
(09:32):
We are actually radiologic technologists.
That is our bread and butter.
That is where we start.
You find educational programsby clicking on the ARRT approved
educational programs.
You can search by discipline.
We're going to go back to thatarea and we're going to find that.
But first, what it is, what isit that we do?
I already told you what aradiologist does.
(09:53):
But what is it that we do?
As radiologic technologists?
We make up the third largestgroup of healthcare professionals,
surpassed in number only byphysicians and nurses.
Wow.
So that's, that's amazing.
We do have a primaryresponsibility as technologists.
We create the images ofpatients bodies using medical equipment.
(10:14):
We don't work on the equipment.
That's why we're not technicians.
The working on equipment toget these images is not the only
thing that we do.
We have to manipulate.
We have to know science, wehave to know math, we have to know
geometry, part of that math.
And depending on whatprofession we're in.
And we have to understandpathology and anatomy and patient
(10:35):
care and put all of thosethings together and get the best
possible images the safest way.
Sometimes we have to injectradiopharmaceutical agents into patients,
sometimes they have to drink them.
We have to do all of these things.
We have to dose the patient.
We have to understand what'sgoing on with the patient's body
(10:55):
in order to make sure thatthey are supposed to get these things.
You know, it's not like wejust, oh, here you go, Boom.
Drink this.
We have to understand what thepatient's background is, what they're
going through, what wouldtheir work day be like.
So it requires advanced education.
That's a minimum of two yearsto become a radiologic technologist.
(11:16):
Right.
So that is, that's two years.
We have a degree programthat's not any weekend course.
If someone's promising you aweekend course to become a radiologic
technology technologist,you're not going to be a radiologic
technologist.
So just know the difference.
When you're choosing a school,it must be giving you actual degree.
(11:39):
Minimum of an associate's degree.
Some programs have bachelor'sdegrees as well.
You also want to make surethat if you choose radiologic technology
that you understand, you mostlikely work in a hospital, physician's
office, outpatient center,even a laboratory.
We work in differentfacilities, but it just depends.
(12:01):
You're not stuck in one or the other.
We also can travel.
Just like you hear aboutnurses being travelers, we can be
travelers as well.
We can work and make money traveling.
It's been, it's not new.
We've.
I've been doing it for years.
I started traveling in 2005.
It's been around for a long time.
We're not a new profession,but we really enjoy what we do and
(12:24):
we get to help patients in our specialty.
So we have professionalsocieties that we can join and we
really encourage that.
We have several here that are listed.
The ARRT is our licensing board.
These are all associations,not mandatory, but it is highly encouraged
(12:44):
that you join theseAssociations, that's where you network,
that's where you learn.
You can gain CE credits, theycan track your CE credits for you.
It's so much that can happenby being a part of the professional
membership societies.
So if you are thinking ofbecoming a radiologic technologist,
if you are one, look up yourlocal chapter, join and see what
(13:06):
benefits you can provide andalso what they can provide for you.
Now, how do you choose these professions?
I personally went to become a radiographer.
A radiologic technologist.
That's what I went first.
It shows radiography.
That is the actual, actual profession.
That is what I went to school for.
I got my associate's degree inthat program from Emory University
(13:29):
School of Medicine's imaging program.
School of Medicine doesgraduate more than doctors for some
reason.
People are very confused on that.
But my degree is from theschool of medicine.
It's not from the imagingprogram, it's from the school of
medicine.
Some people like are reallylike taken aback, like with that.
But there are schools ofmedicine that graduate doctors.
(13:53):
They graduate physicaltherapists and many others, radiologic
technologists.
And yeah, I just always knewschools of medicine graduated more
than doctors.
Obviously there are some outthere that don't know that even who
work in healthcare.
So I'm here to tell you thatis the case.
And yeah, it's many people outthere who have a degree from a school
of medicine that are not doctors.
(14:15):
So let's celebrate.
Everyone, no matter whatschool they went to, educational
programs for the ARRT that youcan choose from that are ARRT backed.
Let's just take radiography.
This is what you do.
(15:38):
You click on it, boom, watchall that pops up.
Now this filters it by 10, I'mgoing to do it by 100.
And there we have 757 items.
You guys, that is a lot ofradiology schools.
Just a lot.
And it's from Canada to, Ithink it's Great Britain and the
usa.
These are huge.
You can look at theinstitutions here, the app address,
the city, the state, thedirector's name and phone number
(16:01):
if known.
If not, if you want to justfilter by city, I'm going to filter
by state.
State is good.
If you just take Anchorage,Alaska, they have one school, the
University of Alaska has aradiologic technology program.
You can go to that website andyou can learn about their program.
These are all programs.
(16:22):
And then once you go to theirwebsite, you can find out do they
have JRCERT accreditation.
Once you figured that out,then you want to, oh, wow, okay,
let me check out and See, havethey been under probation?
Have they followed through ontheir education?
All of those things.
You want to make sure you'relooking at all of those things when
you're looking for a school.
How's that?
(16:42):
Does that help?
Now, let's look at these here.
This was a good question thatpeople asked and they want to know,
what if I don't want to go toschool to be a radiologic technologist
and I want to do one of these things?
So you can do what they call aprimary pathway or you can do a secondary.
My primary pathway isradiologic technology.
(17:03):
That's how I got into the profession.
Some people get into it bybeing an MRI technologist, that is
their primary pathway.
Or a sonographer, that istheir primary pathway.
Radiation therapy or nuclearmedicine are primary pathways as
well.
Which means what is yournumber one way of getting into medical
imaging?
(17:25):
Why did I leave outradiologist assistant?
Because that is not a primary pathway.
Why did I leave out vascular sonography?
Because it falls under sonography.
So if you go into sonography,that's the other one.
So there are primary pathwaysthat are not just radiography to
intermedical imaging.
You can use any of theseothers as sub radiologist assistant
(17:45):
to enter the profession.
Now, this is the clincher.
If you come in as a primarypathway of radiology, radiologic
technology, radiography, youthen can do any of the professions.
All 11 are open to you.
With another few months oranother year of certification.
They're open to you.
(18:05):
But there's a caveat to theother ones.
If you use the other ones as aprimary pathway, you cannot do anything
but those professions.
You cannot say, oh, I do mri,I want to go over to ct, or I want
to go over to radiationtherapy, or I want to go over to
bone density, I want to go to mammography.
No, you will have to thenbecome a radiographer first and then
(18:27):
take certification to get backinto those.
Because these other pathwaysdo not qualify you.
They don't fall under theradiology or the radiography curriculum.
So you did not learn radiologybecause those principles don't follow.
Sonography, that uses soundwaves, radiation therapy, nuclear
medicine, magnetic resonanceimaging, none of those use radiation,
(18:50):
if that makes sense.
So radiologist assistant does,and you learn all of those principles
in going to school to be aradiologic technologist.
So I hope that was veryhelpful to your question.
Let's take another question.
I'm going to stop sharing hereso we can see.
Let's see.
Perfect.
Okay, so let's get intoanother question.
(19:12):
That was great.
I'm so glad we were able toanswer that.
Let's try another one.
Have I ever considered being amentor to people who want to go to
school to be a radiology technologist?
That's a great question.
And yes, I do mentor.
I have my books field, but Ido mentor.
(19:34):
There are several of myfriends whose kids are interested
in doing something and they'vetold them about radiology.
Some of them have gone toschool for medical imaging, ultrasound,
sonography.
Others have gone to school forradiology and they love it.
They absolutely love it.
They can take care of themselves.
They got some schooling withintwo years and are going back learning,
(19:58):
getting more education, butloving the profession.
Their parents are very happy.
Their kids could take care of themselves.
And yeah, so that's how Ichoose to mentor.
I also go into schools andeducate the younger ones on our profession.
So that is really cool.
Okay, let's do another question.
(20:24):
That one.
Okay, so that one wasn'treally a question.
Let's see.
Okay, that's not a question.
I have a lot of questionshere, but okay.
Oh, this is a good one.
I literally am in the processof making the change going into the
change of radiology.
I'm about to start myprerequisites for the radiography
(20:44):
program and I felt like I wastoo old making a career.
Career change.
So I have a whole video on that.
You guys.
Are you too old to go back toschool for radiology?
I don't think so.
I was not straight out of highschool when I went.
Was it hard?
It was an adjustment to beback in school full time.
That was a little roughbecause I had come from working the
(21:05):
working profession and livingon my own and working every day to.
And I took a class here or there.
But it was different being inschool full time and testing every
other day every week andstudying, coming home, studying,
studying.
It was a lot.
It was a lot to adjust to.
But I will say, when you'retaking your prerequisites, use that
(21:26):
as your time to be able tosay, okay, this is how I'm going
to focus.
This is get your study routine together.
That's your time before youactually get accepted into the program
to get your routine.
Get your mind in a place whereit's used to studying because it's
maybe been out of that routine.
If you're like me, you are working.
(21:48):
So yeah, that's what I would say.
Get your mind in a position towhere you are ready for it and use
the prerequisites time to dothat so hopefully you find that helpful.
Hopefully that was helpful.
That came from Rachel.
Let's see.
I've got another question.
I've got some good ones here.
Okay.
(22:10):
Hello.
Can you give us somesuggestions when negotiating new
grad CT pay?
We live in Florida and basepay is $28 an hour.
We like to ask for at least 33to 35 an hour.
Can you please do a video onpay negotiations for new grads if
possible.
My daughter is the employee,I'm trying to help her out.
We love a mom that's helping adaughter out.
(22:31):
That's right, moms, you got tohelp these kids out.
But okay, so I will say this.
I've never worked in Floridaas a technologist, but I have done
contract work down there asclinical applications.
And from the technologiststhat I've talked to, they said the
same thing.
South Florida in particularly,but Florida does not pay well.
(22:54):
One of the reasons probably isand that I've heard from a lot of
recruiters and from peoplethat I know, they just want, and
they just want to live in Florida.
They don't really care aboutthe pay like that.
They don't want to liveanywhere else.
There are some people thatthey are not interested in living
in cold climates.
They love the beach, they lovethe food.
(23:15):
They love to be able to haveflip flops on all day every day.
They don't want to go anywherecolder than that.
They're perfectly fine down inFlorida near the water.
And there's a price you payfor that.
You pay for the convenience ofhaving beautiful weather year round.
You pay for the beingcomfortable, you know, having that
(23:38):
type of lifestyle, that Miami,Fort Lauderdale lifestyle, that beach
lifestyle.
It's expensive, but you payfor it in other ways because everybody
wants it.
They don't have a shortage ofworkers down there.
We rarely get kind contractjobs down in Florida.
And the reason is becauseeverybody wants to live there.
And the other party is.
So you're not going to see alot of high wages like you will in
(23:59):
other places because everybodydoesn't want to live in Wyoming.
That's why you see agency jobsin Wyoming and you know, places that
are freezing cold or placesthat, you know, just nobody wants
to live.
Wyoming is beautiful by the way.
I have friends that livethere, have a huge ranch and it's
beautiful.
So I'm not saying that it'sjust every place is not going to
(24:23):
be the place that everybody'sgoing to flock to.
They don't have the pick ofthe litter when it comes to staff
so then the staff that arethere, the people that are willing
to live there, they say, hey,show me the money.
And if you're living inFlorida, your daughter's going to
stay in Florida.
She has to, she has tointerview around.
This is what I tell people.
If you're a new grad,interview at every hospital that's
(24:45):
hired that you're willing todrive to.
Why?
Because now you can say, oh,hospital A is paying 23, hospital
B is paying 33.
Hospital C, down south.
All of these are in theradius, not too far from each other.
(25:06):
Maybe, you know, traffic is alittle heavier in one place or the
other.
But hospital c is paying 30and hospital D is paying.
What is that, 30.
They're paying 32.
So it kind of.
You're in that ballpark.
But I think we look at pay asthe ultimate answer to whether we
(25:29):
should accept a job.
Hospital A is a university hospital.
Trauma center B is a teaching.
Hospital C is attached to awhole conglomerate of hospitals where
we can pick up shiftseverywhere and we'll get great experience.
And D gives you free education.
(25:52):
All kind of incentives.
They have the best health care.
Your money they're taking outyour check is not a lot for insurance
because they have such a goodhealth care plan, but their pay isn't
the best.
You know, you have to look atall of those things, and that's what
I would teach my child is donot just look at the dollar sign
because you could be making $50.
(26:13):
She can make that 35.
But if she's at ABC Hospitaland they're working her like to the
bone, and her insurance is notthat good and she has to pay 400
a paycheck out per paycheckevery two weeks is 800amonth just
to have okay, insurance thatdoesn't really cover every time she
(26:34):
goes to the doctor, she has topay out the pocket, never meets her
deductible, and she doesn'thave to pay for her lunch, she doesn't
get any kind of incentives.
She doesn't, you know, like,there's no 401k match or very little.
They match 1%.
There's no education reimbursement.
If your child is just gettingout of school for radiology, they
(26:55):
should be looking at ahospital that is going to give them
the experience getting out of school.
They are not experienced.
Get the experience, get your money.
But don't expect to be paid atthe highest level because you have
not worked enough that you canbe a level two or a level three in
(27:16):
a hospital.
Setting.
And I just, I do CT and havedone it for years.
And I'm going to tell you, ittook me years before I could truly,
truly work in a setting alone.
You have to be able to do somuch as a CT technologist.
And people have seriousreactions during a CT scan.
I'mma tell you, I have never,in any modality I've done had as
(27:37):
many reactions as in a CT scan.
And it's like some of theoddest times that happen.
Like, you would look at thepatient and you're like, what?
They coded.
I just injected the contrast.
So, you know, just.
They have no allergies.
That's the kind of stuff that happens.
And if you're alone and you'redoing that kind of stuff, yeah, you,
you're supposed to call it acold team, but you still need to
(27:57):
be able to recognize certain things.
It's just, to me, when you're.
Just because you're out ofschool does not mean that you should
be trying to focus on andfighting for getting all this money
when you do not have theexperience that will really say you
should be paid.
Was somebody who has a lot ofexperience and can run a whole department
(28:20):
on their own without you oranybody else being in there.
There are techs out there thatcan run two machines and not have
any problems and know how towork everything out and put the IVs
in because they come down fromthe floor or come from the ER with
no IVs or IVs that don't work.
And you have to be able tokeep up with the pace, take your
patients back, bring yourpatients in sometimes, put in IVs,
(28:42):
drink them, and be scanningpeople at the same.
Like, there's so much to whatwe do.
And number two, you need to belooking also at what does this job
have to offer me?
Because if she's just gettingout of school, she should be looking,
in my opinion, at trying toget the experience.
Also see if you have education reimbursement.
(29:06):
Your employer at that point,while she's just getting out of school,
should be willing or have somekind of education assistance to pay
for her school.
While you're just getting outof school, go back and finish your
bachelor's, get anothercertification, finish ct, work on
your next one.
You should be working at afacility that is going to help you
(29:26):
to start early, to get moreeducation, to advance your certification,
to advance your degree in thefield of radiology.
And the money will come in amatter of a couple years.
I think about.
There are 11 specialties nowin radiology that I could be certified
in.
I've been doing this 22 years.
(29:47):
If I had done onecertification every two years, I
could have had them all or agood portion of them and gotten good
at a lot of them.
So that's what I say.
I say, you know, really lookat what's most important.
And the most important thingis a new graduate getting out of
school, getting paid, butrealizing you don't even know your
(30:10):
worth yet because you have notbeen in a situation where you have
had to work and prove yourself.
Working with a coworker doesnot mean an experienced coworker
does not mean that you knowhow to be a CT technologist.
To me, I've done MRCT and Xray for a long time, but CT to me
(30:31):
was one of Mr.
Has its own troubles andhardships, but CT required because
so many patients hadreactions, you had to really understand
what it is you were doing andrecognize issues before they happen.
Mr.
Is very similar, but CT peoplehave way more reactions than they
(30:54):
do in mri and they, theyhappen really fast.
Really, really fast.
And they could be as theperson is getting off the scanner,
walking out.
And if you're not observant asa CT technologist, you'll let somebody
walk right out and get intheir car and harm be done to them
because you didn't payattention to certain things that
only experience teaches you asa CT technologist.
(31:16):
So I hope this was a good 30minute conversation.
This has been a lot of fun for me.
This is my first time doingthe question and answer.
Wow.
Only reason I'm stopping isbecause I need something to drink.
My throat is dry and I don'twant to get to coughing on you all.
But thank you for joining meand I cannot wait to share more of
this Q A live session with youall here on on YouTube.
(31:38):
So until then, be sure tocheck out my other videos and give
me a subscribe and check me out.
Y'all have a great day andthank you again.
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