DO NOT GO INTO RADIOLOGY

Go through the nursing program before it is to late. There is absolutely no jobs in the radiology field. Honestly it is very upsetting during orientation the instructors hooked us in by claiming how there was going to be this increase in job opportunities in the coming year for rad tech. ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS BOLOGNA! Totally wasted two years of my life for the non existent career!

Academic Institutions offering degrees/certificates in Radiology Technology (RT,Nuc Med,CT,MRI,US) rely on naive students (right now) to line their pockets and continue to cash-in on the healthcare career scam - knowing job opportunities are almost non existent.

Prospective students don't be foolish and get caught in this trap. RESEARCH true market conditions in diagnostic imaging before investing 2-4 yrs of your time and money to a program. Keep in mind instructors will tell a potential candidate anything to lure them into school - and keep them there.

i believe that i will go on and go to school for an radiology because i really like it so....

You did not waste your time stay strong and I pray you find a job asap!

yea ya wasted your time!!!

Im sorry you wasted your time. I wasted 5 years in school. Got AAS all A's 4 classes from a bachelors-all A's worthless degree. In Texas they hire 4 month trained practical techs, pay them 12 an hr and call them medical assistants; they are also allowed to shoot most x-ray views except oblique skull. Its disgusting this situation. And the so called promise of a national CARE bill passing requiring ARRT registration will never happen.

so in Georgetown, Texas said: Go through the nursing program before it is to late. There is absolutely no jobs in the radiology field. Honestly it is very upsetting during orientation the instructors hooked us in by claiming how there was going to be this increase in job opportunities in the coming year for rad tech. ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS BOLOGNA! Totally wasted two years of my life for the non existent career!

I feel sorry for all of you, I really do. I graduated from a Hospital based two year program in 1981. There were 6 in my class and two FT BSRT Instructors. The program was free with the exception of books, uniforms, and some minor association fees. We also got a stipend. $75.00 for year one and $150.00 for year two. Free cafeteria meals. This was pretty much the model for Radiologic Technology School in my area. There were five RT programs, each had 6 - 8 students. All of us without exception had a job before graduation. You could change jobs every month if you were so inclined, take off to have a baby and return whenever you liked. From 1981 to 1983, my salary doubled and even though there was a recession, the local newspaper had 2 full pages of help wanted ads for RT's.

I have never been unemployed as an RT although I have never taken an x-ray outside of School. I have worked exclusively in CT & MRI in Outpatient Imaging and will soon retire from a profession that has been truly wonderful for me. I have led an above average lifestyle for 30 years and never for a moment felt insecure or in doubt that I would be laid off. My choice to retire is mine, not forced.

It is truly sad to see what has happened. I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. We have enough "Techs" here locally for probably at least 5 years, maybe more. Salaries have declined, job security is essentially a thing of the past, and even worse, mobility, the freedom to move about and further your career has hit a brick wall. Although this does not affect me personally, I have some compassion for my fellow RT's. I wish all of you the best, perhaps in time it will change again
but I remain doubtful.

@SaveMeFromRadiology, Correct in years past most programs had between 6-12 students, it was rare to see any with more than 20 per class. Todays Radiology Technology educational model is much different, most programs enroll between 20-40 students and some have 60 or more. Healthcare Career programs have become a VERY profitable enterprise for colleges over the past decade - to the detriment of the student and working professionals in the field.

Salaries, job security, and employment opportunities will continue to decline if colleges push students out faster than market conditions allow. There are 185-200 percent more techs than needed right now - with more on the way. I think it will be at least 10 years (not 5yrs) before the surplus of techs is 'thinned' back down to demand levels.

The demand for techs may return at some point, but it's unlikely we'll see a *shortage* ever again...

How's the Radiology Tech job market looking in Miami, FL??? I just saw Miami Childrens hospital has some positions open for Rad. Tech. I'm still undecided if to get in this field or Aviation. Its so hard to decide when one people are complaining about no jobs and the other they need jobs.

auri in Miami, Florida said: How's the Radiology Tech job market looking in Miami, FL??? I just saw Miami Childrens hospital has some positions open for Rad. Tech. I'm still undecided if to get in this field or Aviation. Its so hard to decide when one people are complaining about no jobs and the other they need jobs.

Its bad in miami i graduated at the end of 2010 from keiser and still no rt job. Think you got over 10 schools just in miami area pumping about 20 students a month for rt...this equals no jobs. most of these opening wont even look at you with less than 2 years of exp in the field. dont do it trust me i have to go back to college and study something new. Im still in debt of 32k for rt degree stupid....

i am interested in being RT but understand the market is so flooded but i am wondering why nobody or not enough of RT wrote to arrt or politician or form their own union to regulate not only schools for putting out too many techs and protecting RT job from non RT professionals? If you're not happy w/ current situation of the RT field make your voice heard and don't rely on letting other do it b/c thats what everybody else is probably thinking about !!!

cmc in Edison, New Jersey said: i am interested in being RT but understand the market is so flooded but i am wondering why nobody or not enough of RT wrote to arrt or politician or form their own union to regulate not only schools for putting out too many techs and protecting RT job from non RT professionals? If you're not happy w/ current situation of the RT field make your voice heard and don't rely on letting other do it b/c thats what everybody else is probably thinking about !!!

So true! I just came from a conference and one of the speakers stressed how important it was for people to join the ASRT. He talked about how these organizations sit before Congress to just speak and how even though there are over 290,000 techs in U.S., only 8,000 are members and they wouldn't even let him talk! I know that many people are upset about being members of an organization in which they think does nothing for them, but this may be the time to band together and get new laws and bills passed.

You really need to think if you want to be a low guy in the hospital.
There is a joke when you try to negotiate your employment, the best would be if you have 50 y experience , you know US,CT,MRI,Mammo,DEXA and you do not ask any ? and work for $10 an hour. This would be a perfect candidate:)))

so in Georgetown, Texas said: Go through the nursing program before it is to late. There is absolutely no jobs in the radiology field. Honestly it is very upsetting during orientation the instructors hooked us in by claiming how there was going to be this increase in job opportunities in the coming year for rad tech. ALL I HAVE TO SAY IS BOLOGNA! Totally wasted two years of my life for the non existent career!

why is everyone encouraging students to go into nursing? its flooded enough and nursing is a highly stressful job. no one wants to deal with those annoying patients for an entire shift

These couple of posts coming up will be long...if you aren't interested, please just pass them over....however, I have been out of school for almost two years now and have never found full time. I have been working different prn jobs and I have started to write letters to the various people who I think should take responsibility for what is going on in our profession. I've written the ASRT, they never respond. I've written twice to a committe in my home state that is supposed to be the committee that looks at what programs the community colleges teach. They will not respond. I've written for the second time to the JRCERT, this is the organization that certifies the programs that are willing to voluntarily apply for certification. I wrote a lengthy letter on how hard it was to find a job and how I could not pay back my student loans right now and how someone should be responsible for the schools turning out way too many techs. I thought I would post that reply from the brave, professional person who finally responded to my letter and then post my response back to her/him. (The person's name is Leslie and I am unsure of the sex, probably female, but there are some men named Leslie.) Anyway, here goes:

Michelle,

Unlike any other health care profession, programmatic accreditation in our field is voluntary. Students can apply for the certification test and not graduate from a JRCERT accredited program. Therefore, newly developed programs in most instances do not have to apply for accreditation. We can only monitor those programs that are accredited by the JRCERT. We require our programs to assure that they have sufficient resources to support the currently enrolled students. Furthermore, the JRCERT requires programs to monitor job placement rate. Programs that do not meet JRCERT policy for job placement rate must submit a plan that describes how they intend to meet this policy. Many programs will reduce enrollment. If they continually not meet job placement

without appropriate action, the JRCERT Board of Directors will withdraw accreditation. However, since accreditation is not required in our profession, they can continue to operate and enroll as many students as they wish.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.

name not able to be listed on post, M.S., R.T.(R)

JRCERT

20 North Wacker Drive, Suite 2850

Chicago, IL
www.jrcert.org

Hi,

Thank you for the response! You are the first person who has ever responded to my letters to date. I appreciate the fact that you are even willing to look at what I have written and not blow it off completely, as everyone else has. I also sent a letter to JRCERT last year but had no response. I have written many agencies, the ASRT and a committee in my state that oversees what programs the junior colleges offer, but you are the first person to ever reply. Thank you!

Concerning the statement that many of the programs turning out rad techs are not being voluntarily accredited by your agency, I understand. However, that is just not true here in Mississippi. There are ten programs here in the state and every single one of them is approved and certified by your organization. None of these programs are “new” programs either, they have been around for a while. I’ve checked your website. There are NO programs in this state operating without your accreditation. Ten schools in the state of Mississippi is entirely too many when you consider that a lot of them are graduating 20 or 25 or more students. You are looking at over 200 or probably 250 rad techs being turned out each year in this state. One of the more insane things is that in the north part of Mississippi, there are two rad tech programs within 30 miles of each other and in the south, there are two rad tech programs within 30 miles of each other. According to our program director, years ago, the programs usually had 5 or 6 students and there were less accredited programs. Students had jobs waiting on them before they even graduated and another MAJOR thing was that hospitals and clinics were so needy of techs that they were willing to train them into other modalities. I have applied for well over 300 or 400 jobs in my now almost 2 years of searching and have only worked PRN everywhere that I have been able to work. I can tell you that NO WHERE that I have worked or applied to will they bother to train you

I have volunteered to work several weeks FREE to learn CT or Mammography (which I actually got my 40 hour certification in during my school years)....no one will do it. They tell you immediately that they want someone with 2 to 5 years experience (and that’s for PRN jobs) and they will not train. They will simply look through their applications for people applying who already know how to do all of the modalities they want. That should give you an idea of how many people are applying for one job when someone can demand this for a PRN position. I am now driving 200 miles each way to a hospital to only work 24 hours every other weekend. The staff is wonderful, but pay is poor, $15 per hour, and the drive for me is a very long one with gas as high as it is. The reason I am doing this? There are no jobs in my area, when one comes up, I have been told that they receive over 100 applications for it and they have their pick of people with years of experience. Therefore, I almost never even get a chance at an interview! The other reason I am doing that drive? This is the ONLY hospital I have found that is willing to cross train me into CT! I go up there 3 and 4 days before my paid weekend shifts so that I can practice CT and try to learn, with no pay. If I don’t obtain this CT registry, it’s pretty much certain that I’ll never find a decent job in radiology. Small hospitals demand that you be able to do both, but won’t bother with training you. I have lost many job opportunites with small hospitals because of this. I’ve actually had most of them tell me, go get the CT experience somewhere else and then come back, and I’ll hire you then! Talk about gall! X-ray alone will not get you much of a job anymore.....everyone wants someone trained in 2 or 3 modalities with years of experience in all, but no one wants to train you!

My question based on your response is - how is your agency actually assuring there are “sufficient resources to support currently enrolled students”?

I know that a year after I graduated, the program director sent me and my fellow students some kind of survey to fill out as to where we worked and what we were paid, etc....First of all, a lot of us rad techs are having to work PRN jobs....there is no full time for most of us. I do not believe PRN employment should count as gainfully employed. It simply should not....you cannot pay your bills on working less than full time. I have now deferred my $23,000 in student loans for the fourth time due to this. I can only defer it 6 times. A lot of other rad techs are having to work at family clinics, where the pay is low and they do urine tests, blood tests, patient prep and paperwork 80% or more of the time with usually less than 20% of the time being devoted to taking x-rays, which is what they went to school for! Those are what a lot of the full time jobs are that are even out there. I have refused to do that because if I wanted to collect blood and urine all day, I would have majored in Laboratory Technology, not Radiologic Technology. This nation is full of grads who are about to default on their student loans because there are no jobs to be found in what they studied and worked for so hard. As I’ve read in many places, this is one of the next big bubble bursts that is coming in the economy. I suspect a lot of the defaulters are rad techs...I know I don’t want to pay back thousands of dollars for studying something I can’t find a job in. Someone, somewhere needs to take some responsibility for this and stop the insanity of it.

I know that out of the ten in my class...only one had a full time job upon graduation. Two weeks before graduation she didn’t remember if her liver was on her left or her right side. So much for caring what your job applicant knows and so much for picking the top ones from the class! Two are now working at a family clinic where I suspect they are not highly paid and are doing lab and paperwork more than x-ray. One I suspect is not working

at all because she barely passed. The only male in our class chose to go straight into nursing school because he said he knew he would never make enough money in x-ray and would have such a hard time finding a job. One luckily worked prn for about a year and became full time. Two went on to Ultrasound because they had better hopes of obtaining a job (that field is now becoming glutted with the rush of xray students going into it for that reason). One of those two is working prn and I don’t think the other is working at all, not sure. One went on to obtain her Bachelor’s to help her obtain full time, which she did. It took me, the tenth student, over six months after graduation to decide I’d never get a job just applying and talking with people. I called a radiology director at a hospital and asked if I could work her website advertised PRN weekend minimum wage job as a radiology transporter/clerk to get my foot in the door. That is what I had to do to even begin to work in x-ray, something I suspect most grads would never do. Once I actually got the PRN rad tech job at that facility, I worked weekends and nights PRN for about 8 months. I shifted to the orthopedic clinic they owned that was still PRN and then those hours were cut severely after 3 or 4 months and I had to resign because they actually believed I would commute 65 miles each way to work a 3 hour shift twice a week! Now I am doing 2 PRN jobs (one 200 miles away) and cannot completely pay my bills, let alone the student loans. If you think that maybe my tough luck is because I wasn’t any good, let me tell you. I made a 97 on registry and had a 4.0 and did it while working medical records in a hospital 4 nights each week and weekend. The grades and registry score counted for naught. I highly suspect that my age of 49 doesn’t help me one bit and I do believe it does me a lot of harm. Equal Opportunity Employer is a myth.

I would love to understand by what parameters your agency is deciding that the rad

tech programs have “sufficient” resources for their grads. I would certainly like to know what your parameters on the job placement rate is, that you mentioned in your letter. Is that job placement rate for full time, part time and prn or is it just job placement period? I don’t believe that you are going to provide me with all the details of this, but let me ask you a very direct question I have discussed with many out of work and underworked, non-healthinsured rad techs. Do you really believe that a couple of tenured teachers are going to jeopardize their full time jobs and pay with benefits and their state retirement from a community or junior college by telling your agency what the actual stats are on their grads? Hell no. When I was despairing to my program director about not being able to find jobs listed to apply for right before I graduated, do you know what he had the nerve to say to me to my face? “Oh, well, at least I got MY letter from the college today telling me that they are renewing the program for another year. At least I’ll have a job for another year.” Yes, he said that out loud to me. I’ve heard of radiology managers speaking with the directors of these programs asking them how they can have the gall to keep recruiting students into the field knowing that they are probably not going to be able to find a decent full time job. Same story, they want to keep THEIR jobs, so they make out that the students are finding good jobs. The colleges want to keep their tuition money, so they aren’t going to voluntarily shut down or reduce the enrollment in their programs. It is all about the $$$$$, the heck with the poor sap students borrowing money to get a degree in this.

I appreciate your response and I appreciate your defense that many new schools turning out rad techs are not certified by your agency, but that argument holds zero water here in my home state. The schools in this state aren’t new by any means, all of the programs have been in place fo

for a while. All are certified by your agency. All ten of them have been approved by your agency to enroll the number of students that they do. I don’t care how good the schools might be academically , which is one thing your agency reviews - this state does not need ten radiologic technology programs turning out about 250 rad techs sweating and begging for work every year. I suspect there are many other states where they are all certified by your agency and there are just too many. In my almost two years of trying to find jobs, EVERY radiology manager who speaks with me tells me the same thing. “This is not just an economy thing. This has been created by too many schools turning out too many techs for the number of jobs available. I have never seen the field so glutted. It always used to come in cycles every few years where people would have a little trouble finding a job, but then it would even out after a couple of years and we wouldn’t have enough techs. It’s not like that any more. It has been down since about 2005 or before because there are just too many.” I hear it from every experienced manager I talk to. www.Indeed.com , which is a website to look for radiology technologist jobs, has a forum where unemployed rad techs comment all the time. They are from every state in the country and they have been talking about this lack of jobs for years. It would be very beneficial for your agency to take a look at that forum to see what grads from many JRCERT certified schools have to say. Here’s the link:www.indeed.com/forum/job/x-ray-technician.html?myst=50. I think a lot of the more dire posts have been deleted, but you can see a lot of strife over this lack of jobs all over the nation on here.

Like I said, I don’t know what parameters your agency is using to judge the need for the continuation and sometimes increased enrollment of these programs...but I don’t think you need to just expect the directors to volunteer complete and accurate information conce

concerning their grad’s work status. You need to know TRUTHFULLY how many of a program’s students found a FULL TIME, DECENT PAYING JOB WITH BENEFITS within 6 months of graduation, period. If it’s not at least 75%, which is what a student in my radiologic technology program had to make to PASS the program, then that program needs a reduction in the number of students until it can hit that employment percentage or it needs to be closed. PRN work in radiology should not even remotely count as a success story and it should not count as an employed graduate, only if it gets you a full time within one year, end of story. Going on to obtain another degree in an entirely different profession because of the lack of rad tech jobs or good pay should not count as a success. That is zero job placement. Having a job as a rad tech where 80% of your work day is collecting urine and blood samples and doing paperwork isn’t success in the field either. I would be willing to bet you top money that there isn’t a single program in this state of Mississippi that is voluntarily providing you with information on their grads and their work status that has admitted the TRUE status of their grad’s job situation and submits a plan to you for resolving the issue (as you’ve stated in your letter to me), such as REDUCING ENROLLMENT. I bet not any school in the state has ever reduced enrollment. As a matter of fact, I understood in 2010 that one in south Mississippi, was actually taking on more students in their program. I suspect it has been more than one in this state as the colleges are pushing them to take in more students for more money.

Your agency needs to review your parameters, and your agency needs to get your information on graduated students’ true job status from the individual graduates...not the paid teachers of the programs. I’d much rather see a couple of teachers from a few of the schools have to try to get their butts out there and find a job in radiology (good luck to them if

they are 40 and older, I can tell them all about it!) like we have, than have to see scores of students go through what I and a lot of other graduates have gone through with very little hope of any good full time job with benefits in the future. I will keep on writing the people that haven’t been answering me, unlike you, and encourage other grads to do the same. I have written to an agency in my home state that is supposed to be in charge of which programs are taught in the junior colleges. They will not answer me. I suspect I am about to write a congressman or the governor of the state until I get someone from that committee to respond to me and those of us frustrated by all of this.

To hopefully get many others on this bandwagon, I am going to post your letter to me and my response to you on that forum at www.Indeed.com. I just thank you for actually having the professionalism and courage to respond to me and I hope that my letter will really give you some thought as to how your agency is determining that these programs you certify are needed in that community. A lot of us can tell you, they aren’t – or they should have way less students. I know that the hospital and clinic radiology managers will tell you that all these JRCERT accredited schools are not needed, or at least not with the number of students in them. There is a reason this field was a good one to go into a few years back. The classes were small and there were fewer programs...those students were able to do what they wanted to do for a living when they graduated and be paid fairly decently for doing so. I hope you can help all of us by finding a way to get it back to what it was.

Thank you,

Michelle

I know that was long with both of our letters, but I hope that some of you on this board will start writing the JRCERT, the ASRT if you can ever get them to respond (I never have), but more importantly....start finding those committees or organizations in your state who approve which programs are going to be taught in the junior or community colleges. If they won't respond (as they haven't with me), do what I intend to do...I'll write congressmen or the governor...I will find someone who is going to put that committee that approves programs on the spot and have them look at this program to help limit the numbers of grads coming out. I've had no luck with the professional ASRT answering my concerns. I believe if the number of students and programs is reduced at the state level, this will be a huge starting point.

Was the radiologic program tough?

Yes, it was hard and very time-consuming. Our program director was pretty tough academically, which was probably a good thing. It made the registry a breeze. The registry was no where near as tough as all of his mock exams. I think they needed to concentrate more on the actual hands-on...what techniques to use, problems or odd situations that could occur, etc...than they did, much more so than the academic part.

On average, how much does an RT make an hour?

rhonda in Detroit, Michigan said: On average, how much does an RT make an hour?

Honestly,, average is $0.00 hr for the majority new grads right now, very poor employment market for Radiology Imaging Techs.

I got a job right out of school. Multiple offers from the same hospital system- but from different hospitals with in the system. Interviewed at 5 places, with 3 saying they would hire me. I took a position at the hospital I had rotated at during my clinical rotations. 40 hours a week at a PRN pay rate. Declined a full time job 4 months into the job because I plan to move hospitals very soon. Jobs are out there for those who want it.

radtech in Sugar Land, Texas said: I got a job right out of school. Multiple offers from the same hospital system- but from different hospitals with in the system. Interviewed at 5 places, with 3 saying they would hire me. I took a position at the hospital I had rotated at during my clinical rotations. 40 hours a week at a PRN pay rate. Declined a full time job 4 months into the job because I plan to move hospitals very soon. Jobs are out there for those who want it.

What was your salary?

Jobs are hard for everybody right now, not just Rad Techs. Even RNs are having trouble getting employed

Few jobs in my state! HR staff tell me there are usually over 100 applicants for any 1 rad tech job posted. The people that get the jobs have years of experience, do multi-modalites, or know someone. I REALLY WANT a job being a rad tech, that's why I drive 200 miles to work every other weekend. Do you want to know who gets most of the PRN jobs (the only jobs posted here now)? The older techs that already work a full time at another hospital! They take those PRN jobs to supplement their income in this economy. You found a job right out of school & have NO IDEA of how blessed you are to not have gone through what most of us are going through. To say it's out there if you really want it is telling people that post here that they just don't want a job bad enough because they can't find it! Count your blessings and thank God, you are one of the very rare ones hired right out of school, but don't blink, because hospitals lay off, cut hours, etc...all the time. Please don't be insulting to those of us who are searching diligently every day to find those rad tech jobs.

rhonda in Rochester, Michigan said: What was your salary?

Jobs are hard for everybody right now, not just Rad Techs. Even RNs are having trouble getting employed

PRN rate was 21 an hour for a fresh grad 25 for those with experience. They offered a full time at 19 an hour/w benefits.

Im loosing my mind looking for a radiology job! I have been out of school since december and i have applied for so many jobs every place in or around my area i live have ALL my information!! I have never gotten a call back or anything bc they all want "EXPERIENCED TECHS" Well im just out of school...how can i do this? Im so lost i feel like 3 years of my life are DOWN the drain!!!! Please do not go for radiology...save your money and go for something else!!!

im posting again bc as i read through more of these i am so upset bc i see more and more people are out there like me! I was lucky enough for my family to have payed for my education and i feel so much for those who have to pay back all the loans if you can't even find a job and before anyone says oh im lucky, my parents are constantly on my case to find a job and i can't? And they tell me constantly that i have to keep looking bc if i don't i wasted their money :( its really disappointing! And i had about 8 in my class that graduated, 2 had jobs before they quit, they simply got lucky from a clinical sight were people got fired! 1 is working at a clinic, 1 got lucky with a good job at a hospital! The others idk about and me and my friend are BOTH still searching for jobs and my friend found one at a dr's office and she does literally NO x-rays sadly i know thats the case for most! I do not know what is going on and how i am to find a job i really feel like my degree is a waste!!

X-ray is in the sewer!!! Has been for 6 years. You might be able to get PRN jobs. You will fight with candidates over these jobs as well and they want to pay you the lowest amount and bend you over with no lube on your hours!!! Dont even think about MRI or CT same no jobs!!! Healthcare is going to continue to take a dive as reimbursement gets slashed like a beeaatttcchhh!!! To be honest you should have chosen a field with more workable options!!! Not saying nursing is the route but there are more workable places and they have ways of easily building your education upwards. Good luck.