A Day in the Life
From work hours to education options, two radiographers share their experiences in the field of radiography and what it takes to become a technologist. The blend of incredible technology and interpersonal relationships makes this career path exciting and always rewarding.
Transcription:
Radiographer 1: There is a high demand for radiologic technologists. We take x-rays.
Radiographer 2: I just did an abdomen series on a patient. I took a picture of her chest, her stomach upright, and her stomach flat.
Radiographer 1: If a person needed to watch a person swallow, then we would be doing barium studies to watch it as it’s going down the esophagus.
Radiographer 2: She was a younger patient and it appears we got everything we needed for the pictures today.
Radiographer 1: We can take a normal x-ray, which is a still picture, or we have a specialized machine called a Fluoroscopy.
Radiographer 2: We take them into fluoroscopy; it’s like a live camera version of the person. We go into surgery on the weekends, and we film while the doctor’s doing portacaths or fixing broken bones. There are many modalities of x-ray. You can go into MRI, CT, mammography, or PET. But just for your basic x-ray degree, it is two years and you can go on as long as you want or stop right there.
Radiographer 1: We have, of course, biologists that are involved, to learn the soft tissue parts of the body as well as the bones, because that is what we mostly focus on.
Radiographer 2: With some of the new technology today, the digital equipment here, you just take an x-ray on what looks like plain film, slide it in here and the image comes up on the screen several seconds later. I work Saturday, Sunday, and Monday from seven in the morning until about eight or nine at night. If you want eight to five only, you can work in an outpatient clinic that’s only open eight to five, but working at a hospital is very flexible. I love working with people, I love helping people, and I love my schedule.
Radiographer 1: I feel at the end of the day, I’m on a natural high.
Radiographer 2: The three P’s of radiography: people, patient care, and the pay. That’s what I like, especially the pay.
