If you ever thought about becoming a Diagnostic Imaging technologist, this article is made for you. It will help you to know about what a Diagnostic Imaging technologist do, what are the training or courses you'll need to follow, how much you get earned with that job and what are all the options open for you. This article will help you to understand the job of a Diagnostic Imaging technologist.
Being a Diagnostic Imaging technologist is very challenging and thrilling at the same time. What is cool about the job is you can help people to have a healthier body and to feel better about themselves. But what is more challenging is coping with uneasy patients and also telling them bad news about their health. Overall, being a technologist is enjoyable.
In general, a Diagnostic Imaging technologist uses various imaging techniques to make a diagnosis and a treatment of disease. A technologist can treat disease with radiation (radiation-oncology). It can also do a therapeutic intervention (interventional radiology). But most of the time a technologist takes medical images with the use of radiation (radiography, CT scan, radioscopy) or a magnetic field (IRM).
At the beginning of a shift, a technologist will have a list of patients and evaluate the patient medical history. Afterward, they will perform diagnostic procedures (x-rays, CT scans, MRI) with a doctor's prescription. While doing that, a technologist will also operate the Imaging machinery, so they can have a good diagnosis. A Diagnostic Imaging technologist can also read and interpret the results, but they can't tell the patient, it's only the doctor who has the right to say the diagnosis to the patient. At the end of the shift, a technologist has to make that everything is clean and well-done for the next team.
There are many places where a technologist can work. But, they work usually at a medical center or hospital. They can also work at a medical clinic.
To be able to become a Diagnostic Imaging technologist in Quebec, you need to go in College or CÉGEP and you have to do a DEC of 3 or 4 years in the Diagnostic Imaging course. The program also includes an internship in a medical center or clinic. In the end of the program, you will need to pass a challenging exam made by the government, and it will cost about $1000. You better not mess that up!
In a year a radiology technologist can make between $57,000 - $75,00. In general, will be about $60,000 in a year which is about $30 per hour.
After graduating from the program, a technologist can specialize in specific procedures like bone densitometry or mammography. Usually, a technologist has already seen all the special procedure in the program. The hospital and many medical centers will give a training to the technologist that wants to try a specific procedure.
I think the danger in the world of Diagnostic Imaging is that technologists work with x-rays. If you do not use the radiation wisely it can lead to terrible disease or illness. But, in the program, a technologist will learn how to protect themselves and their patients from X-rays. But the chance to have a terrible situation like that is very rare because a technologist uses a low dose. Plus they have to respect a radiology principle which is ALADA. (As Low As Diagnostically Achievable)
I think the chance are below 1%. Robots can not fill the role of a technologist. The world of Diagnostic Imaging has many situations that only required a human to deal with it. A robot will be lost or even scare to resolve those problems.
Retirement depends on when you started to work But in general, diagnostic Imaging technologists retire around 55-65 years old.
It has been 2 years now that I am in the program and studying in the course is very challenging. But, in the end, I will enjoy my job as a Diagnostic Imaging technologist. From now on, I plan to do my internship, and afterward, I will start working. I also think in about 3 to 5 years I will specialize in a specific procedure. In the end, I recommend the program to people who want to do something in medicine. Plus, you can become a technologist very fast but, you need to be strong-headed to get through the course.
Rationale: to inform or educate
Authority: research journal
Date: recently published
Accuracy: probably true
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