My Inspiring Journey to Becoming a Radiologic Technologist

As an MRI technologist, of course, I am a little bias in regards to the field of radiology. Radiology is a field that will NEVER go away... so, hello! Job security for life. 

The field of radiology has been advancing for years, but especially in the last few years we have seen hospitals and departments grow too fast with not enough technologists in the field to keep up. We need more technologists. 

The solution has been to hire agency technologists, like myself, to fill the gaps at hospitals/facilities who can't keep up with the volume of patients to volume of staff. We see this across other healthcare fields, as well. 

I fell into the field of radiology when I was 18 years old. WILD. I broke my tibia in high school and had to get a bunch of radiology scans. I was laying there on the table with the technologist close by and it hit me! I always knew I didn't see myself as being a doctor (too much school) or a nurse (too much bodily fluid), but a radiology technologist? Now I could see myself doing this! 

Fast forward to when I got accepted into my Associate's Degree radiology program. I was over the moon excited to start clinicals and learn all the things so I could become the best technologist out there (along with my stellar classmates). I gradated in two years and was able to start working as a radiologic technologist at the ripe age of 20! CRAZY. 

I absolutely love x-ray. But the opportunity presented itself for me to go back to school for 2 years and be able to snag BOTH a Bachelor's Degree and another certificate in MRI. I couldn't pass it up. 

Why although I had never seen myself reaching for other opportunities or modalities beyond x-ray, I did have a "want" to learn more. So I decided to go for it. 

For two years I worked full time as an X-ray technologist while going to school full time for MRI. To say those were a wild two years is an understatement. 

I would go to clinicals at 6 AM until 3 PM and then head over to my X-ray job from 3:30PM to 11:30PM. To say I barely got any sleep was an understatement. My only saving grace was that I lived close to both my staff job hospital and my clinical site. In that respect, I was blessed. 

Those two years went by so fast, and before I knew it, I was graduating and taking my MRI boards. I became a dual certified MRI and X-ray Technologist. 

I am proud to work in radiology. Although it is a busy and demanding field, I have found so much joy being able to do something in healthcare that I really do love.