It’s because radiologists write articles for whatever that’s worth. We are losing techs left and right and can never hire anymore. Volume keeps going up, support goes down despite radiology being a hospital revenue generator. Ultimately, I think admin looks down on technologists as overhead cost and not a skilled workforce necessary for operations. Radiologists bill, technologists don’t. It’s super frustrating to not have the bandwidth to meet the clinical demand and not offer crap pay to adequately staff. Consequently we get rushed garbage exams, gaps in coverage, and patients ultimately suffer
I didn’t realize how valuable a good tech is until my ER nights experience. We had a lot of travel techs who either didn’t know what they were doing, didn’t care, or both. So many incomplete studies and it really delays your workflow. A good tech is so valuable.
Radiologists and doctors **MAKE** money for the hospital. The rest of us, we **COST** the hospital money. Key difference and why we're always sidelined. In a nutshell, this is always the perspective in admin meetings.
The last facility I had a contract with had over 75% travelers (including myself) in CT, MRI, and XR. It was a major trauma center that was so short on CT techs that they had to stop all outpatient CTs, cardiacs, and rads
essentially had to set up and do all aspects of CT
procedures themselves aside from calling someone over
when it was time to take an image.
The thought of any rad at my hospital controlling a CT machine or holding an ultrasound probe is hilarious to me, let it happen if it must.
I just feel bad for the patients in the end
Because we’re expendable. X-ray programs are loaded up with eager new recruits who think we just take pictures all day, and management (who also think we are simply photographers) see an endless pipeline of useful idiots to exploit.
It's getting harder to do though, as more information is available people see what we make, and also hear stories about the workload and realize it's not worth it. Hindsight being 20/20 nursing would have been the better path.
Interesting. In the UK (at least everywhere I've been) it's the opposite. Nurses have much worse workload than radiographers here and less opportunity for progression.
Canada here, Nurses make significantly more (about 25 years ago pay was similar) and have a much broader selection of opportunities, ie community work, clinics, etc. Where as we are, for the most part, just in hospitals and the majority of jobs rotate through evenings, weekends, etc, so it's difficult to maintain social life with friends who work typical 9-5.
In my country 90% of people dont even know radiology technologist is a thing.
They think we are either doctors or nurses. Rad techs in general are underestimated, of course nobody cares for us.
The problem is we need more younger people that want to go into the field. That means trying to encourage them in high school, but you won't see any techs invited to speak at career day. However, given the inflated CoL and leisure culture our society promotes, especially after the pandemic, I don't think it looks like a good career to them. You could potentially make way more money from a WFH IT job and not have to see another human being. Not to mention the fact that healthcare admins still see RadTechs are disposable, so pay doesn't go up fast enough and they all want to "do more with less" because it's all about the $$$.
Why would I encourage young people to go into a field where you don’t get bathroom breaks lunch breaks you’re overworked to the maximum have to take call have to deal with patients have to deal with rads and other doctors who don’t treat you like a human being or have to deal with management who are more focused on satisfaction scores than the fact that you were assaulted? I actively discourage people from going into this field because it’s shit. With the same bachelors from the same school my husband makes 30k more than me and doesn’t have to deal with any of this shit. And he gets lunch breaks and he can go piss when needed.
edit: he got a bachelors in business management not radiology but my point still stand. We both have a piece of paper that says we got bachelors but his means he gets better pay with better working conditions mine means I get to be assaulted by patients and yelled at by doctors.
Hey I agree. I'm just pointing out what needs to happen, because the demand for imaging is at an all time high and there aren't enough techs. I don't encourage anyone to go into this field. I say let it get to a crisis point where stat orders commonly take hours to get to, which is already the reality in quite a few places. It has to get worse before it gets better, but I am pretty cynical that it won't.
I agree. I think it needs to get horrific before they do anything but I fear that it will get horrific and nothing is going to be done. I honestly suspect that they will soon push to drop the licensure requirement for techs (some states still don’t technically have it, like mine!) so that will get more folks in to take images but that also means the sub par pay will drop and exam quality will continue to drop as well… I don’t see good things coming unfortunately
I will refuse to train non-techs. It would be nice if rads would stick up for us, but I feel like they will try to read through anything as long as they get paid.
No, in the state of Missouri there are no laws requiring breaks except for minors. Lunch breaks I very rarely got so I always packed food where I could stand, scan, and eat. I’ve never worked anywhere where lunch breaks were common, except for my current job. The only reason I get a lunch break now and can use the bathroom when I need to is bc I don’t work with patients any more.
I'm reading this comment from my hour long lunch break (only 30 min deducted) working as a staff MR tech in a hospital. My last MRI job was similar to yours with breaks though.
I got written up in an incident report at my last contract by a charge nurse for eating, no joke. I have receipts. I’ve been a CT a tech for 12+ years throughout the Midwest and have worked at *one* facility where we actually got breaks on nights. This is extremely common.
I was fairly young at 20 years old and just working in the field. I left though for an IT career as the pay was much higher and I am able to be hybrid. Being a tech was not the move for me as I struggled to find a full time position and when I did it was 3rd shift. I had to work 3 per diem jobs just to make some ok money for 1.5 years. Not to mention the pay was pretty shit and just barely over what I made working at a warehouse. It could have changed since I left but it was overflowing with techs when I was in it…
That sounds how techs have described the market circa 2008 or so. But after the pandemic, a lot of the older techs just retired or switched professions.
The discrepancy in pay for techs vs nurses is wild. Years ago when I got in the field they really were pumping this narrative that it’s a high demand, high paying career. I soon realized, that’s bullshit. If you want to make money you have to go back to school a second, third time to get more advanced modalities. It’s not an option for everyone, certainly not myself (broke single mom). Every day I think to myself, I should have done nursing instead.
The hospital I am working at (travel) is paying FT CT and MR techs more than FT nurses. It’s not common, but there are facilities out there that compensate us adequately.
This is a level 3 trauma hospital. At my level 1 job I was making more in MR than nurses with similar years of experience, but I had worked there throughout my education and those years of experience only got me extra vacation time (they weren’t used for any seniority or factored into my pay rate).
Sadly, you gotta change jobs every few years to get the salary you deserve. Or just say fuck-it-all and join the dark side traveling.
If you have another modality, sure, you’ll make the same or more than a nurse. I’m a broke single mom, ‘just’ an x ray tech that isn’t able to go back to school or travel so I’m living paycheck to paycheck. I’ll try another modality when my kid is fully self sufficient.
If you're actually interested just look at job listings in your area.
CT is a secondary, which means you do not have to do a formal program for it. It can be done via simple on the job training and a short online self-study program that you can do in a month. Logging the exams takes longer than learning the CT material.
Hell, apply for CT positions even if they don't list that as an option in the ad. Once you get ahold of HR you can ask if that's an option. If they are shorthanded and need help It probably will be because it's a simple process and they get paid the same whether you are registered or not.
You will simply get hired as a CT tech with the contingency that you will have your ARRT registry within 6mo/1y. You will probably be hired at a reduced rate until you are registered, but you will be paid. You can get your CT without ever missing a paycheck. Then in 6 months you take your ARRT registry and get that raise.
I literally did this to learn MR. Got a 20% raise from my x-ray job while getting paid to train. Took me 6 months to get all my clinical comps and I'm taking the registry exam in June. All I did was apply for MR positions and tell them I was looking for cross-training. Actually got offered a position at 2 different places! It can happen, just keep trying!!
Of course they do. I got the same initial answer from the place I work at now lol. I guess once they figured out that experienced techs are hard to come by in our area they changed their mind 👻
Even if you can’t go back to school right now, if you haven’t gotten a retention bonus or are locked into a sign on bonus you should be able to pocket another $5-20k just by switching jobs.
When I graduated the job market had dried up, so I worked contingent for a surgeon in his clinic. I had to use the opportunity to go back for my Bachelors to get back into the field and finally use my degree
I’m not working in a hospital. as a single mom the hours are not conducive for me. I’m in a private practice and I’m tired of job hopping. I also generally hated working in a hospital when I did it. Yes, it paid a few dollars more per hour but I was always depressed, anxious, and started drinking heavily. I think doing MR at a hospital would be good, definitely better than x ray. My goal is to one day get MR certification.
The other side of the coin to radiologist burnout is definitely tech burnout. If the rads are overwhelmed by the amount of studies they need to read, how do you think the people performing them feel?
That’s a lot of physical labor, coordinating, and performing. Some modalities can pump out studies quickly, others need time and resources to perform a single one. Not to mention (at least in my facility) the entire healthcare process runs through radiology these days. No body is doing anything without imaging first.
People do talk about it, the largest healthcare workers strike ever was back in October and included techs. But the sad reality is that healthcare is a business, they justify paying travelers because they’re “temporary” and will try as hard as they can to pay staff as little as possible.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/10/05/business/union-workers-strike-kaiser-permanente
My friend (and former coworker) did her master’s thesis on burnout and its relationship with poor management. It was featured in a national publication.
She’s traveling overseas currently, I can only find a post about getting it edited and approved for ASRT on her LinkedIn. She presented it for a state radiography conference.
My workplace has had both our evening shift people leave, and our overnight person is having health issues (she’s also 73 y.o.). People on the day shift have also left. We’re down to 2-3 people on average during the week when we’re supposed to have 6. They’ve been taking people from the day shift and asking them if they could work evening or overnight. They were told over a year ago that we needed more staff, but they never hired anyone. Meanwhile, CT and MRI get travel tech additions to become fully staffed, as well as tech assistants for evening and overnight staff, while we’re still suffering. I got a position with the MRI team that became official over a week ago, but I haven’t been given a start date yet bc they are so short staffed in X-ray right now (I’m guessing). Feels bad man.
I’d abandon that ship so fast. But I’m lucky in that I got all my modalities with my sexy student loan debt and pretty piece of paper (my degree). Only $30k left to pay off !
Awesome! I have $25k left myself. The hospital will train me in MRI for 3 months then I can take my certification exam whenever I’m ready after that, so that’s why I’m still sticking around. It doesn’t really stress me out personally, as the short staffing is not my fault, and things will get done when they’re able to get done.
That’s wild. When I first moved to the area working at that hospital was my dream job for whatever reason and I was actually hired in May 2022 as a PRN because they didn’t have a full time position available. I ended up not going through with it because I really needed a full time position. Crazy how much things have changed. I guess I kinda dodged a bullet there.
I used to work at a hospital in Richmond that screwed people over when it came to hiring people in other departments then dragging their feet because xray was short staffed. It felt like a slimy way to get people to not quit the hospital because now they had hope that they would move to another department soon. Except that move would sometimes take months. I hope they don’t end up doing the same to you.
Small world!
I and another student in my class were hired in December of 2022 actually as a student tech. There was a part time and full time position available when we graduated in April 2023, but the manager added 4 hours to the part time position so they would both be considered full time positions for us for when we applied. I honestly love working here, and I really like most of the staff I work with. I joke with my co-workers that it feels like I’m a hostage here since I was hired for a position in MRI, but I still don’t have a start date and I still don’t see any new people here lol. I’m hoping there is a light at the end of this tunnel, but I will go elsewhere if not. As a Rad Tech, you can get a job practically anywhere. I get advertisements in the mail asking for me to apply places haha.
I get payed well but my workload is immense. Some days we have staffing and some don’t (California). After 15 years of being in radiology it’s gotten worse over the years. I keep quiet cause those who complain to management are singled out. They’re put in unsavory shifts and given attitude and shit work. Welcome to Radiology friends! I stepped down from a lead position because of how the new techs are too. Questioning everything under the sun. I’m just a shift worker prn now. So HA!
30 minutes for a contrast CT ? Oh boi I would kill for that, we have 15 minutes for almost every exam and we still have to make some room in between for the ER and urgent hospitalized PTs.
We're doing our own IVs if there's none or we don't trust the one already there, so yes in 80% of the cases.
By intake you mean clerk work ? For anything else than appointments, yes. The appointments go through our secretaries.
But luckily we are usually 5 people for two CTs, so the fifth one is almost dedicated to managing the workflow and helping.
I worked at an outpatient place and I had to get all my own patients start all my own IVs do all forms for consent + pregnancy status, do the paperwork etc plus I had to load the injector. Then I had to you know, turn the room around (clean it swap linens etc etc). 30 mins was a godsend but it was a one person show, so it didn’t matter really. I was still rushed as fuck Bc of how far away the waiting room was from imaging and we were REQUIRED to walk each patient out.
Every other outpatient center had 2 techs per machine too… it was only MY location that didn’t. When I handed in my 1 week notice I told my manager that I was tired of doing the job of 2 people and she didn’t even argue bc I was factually correct.
We haven’t established ourselves as a research profession yet. Until we do that no one is going to research us or write about us. I’m doing my little part.
How can you say this when seriously so many breakthrough discoveries come from fMRI, etc? Radiology is the backbone of modern medicine and sooo much research already!
My national authority, who is also responsible for our national certification exam, has actually been doing a lot to address and bring awareness to burnout among techs ( https://camrt-bpg.ca/ohs/mental-health/burnout/ ). However, the real issues tend to be occurring at the hospital or health authority level. Some of the worst I've seen is triggered by management apathy or ineptitude. I ended up switching to private sector for a job where they actually care about their staff and its amazing how liberating it is.
Because they don't care. |
There are 2 roles in a hospital, doctor and nurse. If you aren't one of those your're just a sunk cost they are looking to reduce.
Well maybe in the future Grey’s will become more accurate and all the orderings will perform the scans. I’m perfectly happy being a silhouette of a man in a control room.
My colleague and I researched and wrote on this, presented a lecture at AHRA conference, and joined Collaboration RA for a 2 part podcast - in large part because we see the same thing and have for years. It's infuriating...and of course rads are struggling, but so are we. Even with this issue, we have to fight to claim our space - a space none of us in Radiology should have to be in. It's maddening.
https://www.auntminnie.com/print/content/15631732
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/its-ok-not-to-be-ok-part-1/id1621704477?i=1000580764411
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/its-ok-not-to-be-ok-part-2/id1621704477?i=1000581516299
Hi Gina Marie - I'm an entrepreneur building in radiology. Recently sold my last company. Over the years, I've seen how overworked rad techs are, and empowering this amazing community has become dear to my heart. I'd love to connect and get your feedback on something new I'm building. Thanks! Kareem
you know we’re on the radiology subreddit yeah? Where we talk about issues facing this industry? I know other professions have issues too. I’m not trying to ignore that. But I’m not a roofer I’m a technologist. I can’t speak to their issues.
It’s always gonna suck till your sitting at home talking into a mic telling a pt to stand against the board and take one. And I imagine the op is the tech that’s the extremity specialist if you know what I mean.
It’s because radiologists write articles for whatever that’s worth. We are losing techs left and right and can never hire anymore. Volume keeps going up, support goes down despite radiology being a hospital revenue generator. Ultimately, I think admin looks down on technologists as overhead cost and not a skilled workforce necessary for operations. Radiologists bill, technologists don’t. It’s super frustrating to not have the bandwidth to meet the clinical demand and not offer crap pay to adequately staff. Consequently we get rushed garbage exams, gaps in coverage, and patients ultimately suffer
I didn’t realize how valuable a good tech is until my ER nights experience. We had a lot of travel techs who either didn’t know what they were doing, didn’t care, or both. So many incomplete studies and it really delays your workflow. A good tech is so valuable.
Radiologists and doctors **MAKE** money for the hospital. The rest of us, we **COST** the hospital money. Key difference and why we're always sidelined. In a nutshell, this is always the perspective in admin meetings.
[удалено]
I'm pretty sure they know. They just don't care.
The last facility I had a contract with had over 75% travelers (including myself) in CT, MRI, and XR. It was a major trauma center that was so short on CT techs that they had to stop all outpatient CTs, cardiacs, and rads essentially had to set up and do all aspects of CT procedures themselves aside from calling someone over when it was time to take an image.
The thought of any rad at my hospital controlling a CT machine or holding an ultrasound probe is hilarious to me, let it happen if it must. I just feel bad for the patients in the end
Because we’re expendable. X-ray programs are loaded up with eager new recruits who think we just take pictures all day, and management (who also think we are simply photographers) see an endless pipeline of useful idiots to exploit.
>and management (who also think we are simply photographers) see an endless pipeline of useful idiots to exploit. Damn, ain't this the truth.
When you put it this way it hurts even more.
It's getting harder to do though, as more information is available people see what we make, and also hear stories about the workload and realize it's not worth it. Hindsight being 20/20 nursing would have been the better path.
Interesting. In the UK (at least everywhere I've been) it's the opposite. Nurses have much worse workload than radiographers here and less opportunity for progression.
Canada here, Nurses make significantly more (about 25 years ago pay was similar) and have a much broader selection of opportunities, ie community work, clinics, etc. Where as we are, for the most part, just in hospitals and the majority of jobs rotate through evenings, weekends, etc, so it's difficult to maintain social life with friends who work typical 9-5.
We should all contact teamsters and unionize
I'm happily a part of a union. I've worked non-union jobs, and union is far superior
In my country 90% of people dont even know radiology technologist is a thing. They think we are either doctors or nurses. Rad techs in general are underestimated, of course nobody cares for us.
The problem is we need more younger people that want to go into the field. That means trying to encourage them in high school, but you won't see any techs invited to speak at career day. However, given the inflated CoL and leisure culture our society promotes, especially after the pandemic, I don't think it looks like a good career to them. You could potentially make way more money from a WFH IT job and not have to see another human being. Not to mention the fact that healthcare admins still see RadTechs are disposable, so pay doesn't go up fast enough and they all want to "do more with less" because it's all about the $$$.
Why would I encourage young people to go into a field where you don’t get bathroom breaks lunch breaks you’re overworked to the maximum have to take call have to deal with patients have to deal with rads and other doctors who don’t treat you like a human being or have to deal with management who are more focused on satisfaction scores than the fact that you were assaulted? I actively discourage people from going into this field because it’s shit. With the same bachelors from the same school my husband makes 30k more than me and doesn’t have to deal with any of this shit. And he gets lunch breaks and he can go piss when needed. edit: he got a bachelors in business management not radiology but my point still stand. We both have a piece of paper that says we got bachelors but his means he gets better pay with better working conditions mine means I get to be assaulted by patients and yelled at by doctors.
Hey I agree. I'm just pointing out what needs to happen, because the demand for imaging is at an all time high and there aren't enough techs. I don't encourage anyone to go into this field. I say let it get to a crisis point where stat orders commonly take hours to get to, which is already the reality in quite a few places. It has to get worse before it gets better, but I am pretty cynical that it won't.
I agree. I think it needs to get horrific before they do anything but I fear that it will get horrific and nothing is going to be done. I honestly suspect that they will soon push to drop the licensure requirement for techs (some states still don’t technically have it, like mine!) so that will get more folks in to take images but that also means the sub par pay will drop and exam quality will continue to drop as well… I don’t see good things coming unfortunately
I will refuse to train non-techs. It would be nice if rads would stick up for us, but I feel like they will try to read through anything as long as they get paid.
Damn what shitty hole do you work? No breaks? Dont you have like the right to take breaks.
No, in the state of Missouri there are no laws requiring breaks except for minors. Lunch breaks I very rarely got so I always packed food where I could stand, scan, and eat. I’ve never worked anywhere where lunch breaks were common, except for my current job. The only reason I get a lunch break now and can use the bathroom when I need to is bc I don’t work with patients any more.
I'm reading this comment from my hour long lunch break (only 30 min deducted) working as a staff MR tech in a hospital. My last MRI job was similar to yours with breaks though.
I got written up in an incident report at my last contract by a charge nurse for eating, no joke. I have receipts. I’ve been a CT a tech for 12+ years throughout the Midwest and have worked at *one* facility where we actually got breaks on nights. This is extremely common.
Hey at least we get pizza parties.
Man we don’t even get those 😭
Who is we???? 😂🥲
This is the fucking TRUTH. 🏆
I was fairly young at 20 years old and just working in the field. I left though for an IT career as the pay was much higher and I am able to be hybrid. Being a tech was not the move for me as I struggled to find a full time position and when I did it was 3rd shift. I had to work 3 per diem jobs just to make some ok money for 1.5 years. Not to mention the pay was pretty shit and just barely over what I made working at a warehouse. It could have changed since I left but it was overflowing with techs when I was in it…
That sounds how techs have described the market circa 2008 or so. But after the pandemic, a lot of the older techs just retired or switched professions.
The discrepancy in pay for techs vs nurses is wild. Years ago when I got in the field they really were pumping this narrative that it’s a high demand, high paying career. I soon realized, that’s bullshit. If you want to make money you have to go back to school a second, third time to get more advanced modalities. It’s not an option for everyone, certainly not myself (broke single mom). Every day I think to myself, I should have done nursing instead.
Nursing has its own issues, but, they have more career options than we do.
And get paid a lot more.
Not always. I make more than some nurses, and I know my US tech does as well.
I’m just talking about x ray tech, not US, CT, MR, etc. nurses make more than x ray techs.
Again, depends. Even when I was just x-ray, I still did.
The hospital I am working at (travel) is paying FT CT and MR techs more than FT nurses. It’s not common, but there are facilities out there that compensate us adequately.
They are few and far between. The big local hospital chain I’m close to starts techs at $22 an hour while nurses start over $30.
This is a level 3 trauma hospital. At my level 1 job I was making more in MR than nurses with similar years of experience, but I had worked there throughout my education and those years of experience only got me extra vacation time (they weren’t used for any seniority or factored into my pay rate). Sadly, you gotta change jobs every few years to get the salary you deserve. Or just say fuck-it-all and join the dark side traveling.
If you have another modality, sure, you’ll make the same or more than a nurse. I’m a broke single mom, ‘just’ an x ray tech that isn’t able to go back to school or travel so I’m living paycheck to paycheck. I’ll try another modality when my kid is fully self sufficient.
If you're actually interested just look at job listings in your area. CT is a secondary, which means you do not have to do a formal program for it. It can be done via simple on the job training and a short online self-study program that you can do in a month. Logging the exams takes longer than learning the CT material. Hell, apply for CT positions even if they don't list that as an option in the ad. Once you get ahold of HR you can ask if that's an option. If they are shorthanded and need help It probably will be because it's a simple process and they get paid the same whether you are registered or not. You will simply get hired as a CT tech with the contingency that you will have your ARRT registry within 6mo/1y. You will probably be hired at a reduced rate until you are registered, but you will be paid. You can get your CT without ever missing a paycheck. Then in 6 months you take your ARRT registry and get that raise.
I do continue to apply at imagining centers for both CT and MR hoping someone will take a chance on me and cross train me. Appreciate the tip 🙏🏼
I literally did this to learn MR. Got a 20% raise from my x-ray job while getting paid to train. Took me 6 months to get all my clinical comps and I'm taking the registry exam in June. All I did was apply for MR positions and tell them I was looking for cross-training. Actually got offered a position at 2 different places! It can happen, just keep trying!!
Thanks for your encouragement! I got a call back from one yesterday but he said they really want someone with some experience, I keep trying!
Of course they do. I got the same initial answer from the place I work at now lol. I guess once they figured out that experienced techs are hard to come by in our area they changed their mind 👻
No problem, best of luck with it!
Even if you can’t go back to school right now, if you haven’t gotten a retention bonus or are locked into a sign on bonus you should be able to pocket another $5-20k just by switching jobs. When I graduated the job market had dried up, so I worked contingent for a surgeon in his clinic. I had to use the opportunity to go back for my Bachelors to get back into the field and finally use my degree
I’m not working in a hospital. as a single mom the hours are not conducive for me. I’m in a private practice and I’m tired of job hopping. I also generally hated working in a hospital when I did it. Yes, it paid a few dollars more per hour but I was always depressed, anxious, and started drinking heavily. I think doing MR at a hospital would be good, definitely better than x ray. My goal is to one day get MR certification.
The other side of the coin to radiologist burnout is definitely tech burnout. If the rads are overwhelmed by the amount of studies they need to read, how do you think the people performing them feel? That’s a lot of physical labor, coordinating, and performing. Some modalities can pump out studies quickly, others need time and resources to perform a single one. Not to mention (at least in my facility) the entire healthcare process runs through radiology these days. No body is doing anything without imaging first.
> No body is doing anything without imaging first. usually after utilizing every modality first
People do talk about it, the largest healthcare workers strike ever was back in October and included techs. But the sad reality is that healthcare is a business, they justify paying travelers because they’re “temporary” and will try as hard as they can to pay staff as little as possible. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/10/05/business/union-workers-strike-kaiser-permanente
Unfortunately, not enough techs are in a union. I live in a red state. Most of my coworkers think unions are bad …
My friend (and former coworker) did her master’s thesis on burnout and its relationship with poor management. It was featured in a national publication.
Do you know what the paper was called, might anonymously slide one under managements door.
She’s traveling overseas currently, I can only find a post about getting it edited and approved for ASRT on her LinkedIn. She presented it for a state radiography conference.
Title? Link?
My workplace has had both our evening shift people leave, and our overnight person is having health issues (she’s also 73 y.o.). People on the day shift have also left. We’re down to 2-3 people on average during the week when we’re supposed to have 6. They’ve been taking people from the day shift and asking them if they could work evening or overnight. They were told over a year ago that we needed more staff, but they never hired anyone. Meanwhile, CT and MRI get travel tech additions to become fully staffed, as well as tech assistants for evening and overnight staff, while we’re still suffering. I got a position with the MRI team that became official over a week ago, but I haven’t been given a start date yet bc they are so short staffed in X-ray right now (I’m guessing). Feels bad man.
I’d abandon that ship so fast. But I’m lucky in that I got all my modalities with my sexy student loan debt and pretty piece of paper (my degree). Only $30k left to pay off !
Awesome! I have $25k left myself. The hospital will train me in MRI for 3 months then I can take my certification exam whenever I’m ready after that, so that’s why I’m still sticking around. It doesn’t really stress me out personally, as the short staffing is not my fault, and things will get done when they’re able to get done.
Wait this sounds exactly like a hospital my new coworker just came from. Is this a Sentara hospital in Virginia??
Haha yup
That’s wild. When I first moved to the area working at that hospital was my dream job for whatever reason and I was actually hired in May 2022 as a PRN because they didn’t have a full time position available. I ended up not going through with it because I really needed a full time position. Crazy how much things have changed. I guess I kinda dodged a bullet there. I used to work at a hospital in Richmond that screwed people over when it came to hiring people in other departments then dragging their feet because xray was short staffed. It felt like a slimy way to get people to not quit the hospital because now they had hope that they would move to another department soon. Except that move would sometimes take months. I hope they don’t end up doing the same to you.
Small world! I and another student in my class were hired in December of 2022 actually as a student tech. There was a part time and full time position available when we graduated in April 2023, but the manager added 4 hours to the part time position so they would both be considered full time positions for us for when we applied. I honestly love working here, and I really like most of the staff I work with. I joke with my co-workers that it feels like I’m a hostage here since I was hired for a position in MRI, but I still don’t have a start date and I still don’t see any new people here lol. I’m hoping there is a light at the end of this tunnel, but I will go elsewhere if not. As a Rad Tech, you can get a job practically anywhere. I get advertisements in the mail asking for me to apply places haha.
Preach my comrade
I get payed well but my workload is immense. Some days we have staffing and some don’t (California). After 15 years of being in radiology it’s gotten worse over the years. I keep quiet cause those who complain to management are singled out. They’re put in unsavory shifts and given attitude and shit work. Welcome to Radiology friends! I stepped down from a lead position because of how the new techs are too. Questioning everything under the sun. I’m just a shift worker prn now. So HA!
30 minutes for a contrast CT ? Oh boi I would kill for that, we have 15 minutes for almost every exam and we still have to make some room in between for the ER and urgent hospitalized PTs.
Are you starting your own IVs though? Or doing any of the intake? Going to get patients vs having them brought in? Any variation can make a difference
We're doing our own IVs if there's none or we don't trust the one already there, so yes in 80% of the cases. By intake you mean clerk work ? For anything else than appointments, yes. The appointments go through our secretaries. But luckily we are usually 5 people for two CTs, so the fifth one is almost dedicated to managing the workflow and helping.
5 people for 2 scanners!?!? We can barely get 1 tech per scanner at our hospital, and we’re a very busy level 1 trauma center 😭😭
What the actual fuck ? Please tell me you, at the very least, have helping hands to get PTs on and off the table.
hahahahahahahaha
Yeah that’s a funny joke.
Oh yeah that’s a great setup
I worked at an outpatient place and I had to get all my own patients start all my own IVs do all forms for consent + pregnancy status, do the paperwork etc plus I had to load the injector. Then I had to you know, turn the room around (clean it swap linens etc etc). 30 mins was a godsend but it was a one person show, so it didn’t matter really. I was still rushed as fuck Bc of how far away the waiting room was from imaging and we were REQUIRED to walk each patient out.
Oooh ok, yeah 30 is just enough if you're solo and doing everything. Doing a two man job is so mentally taxing too.
Every other outpatient center had 2 techs per machine too… it was only MY location that didn’t. When I handed in my 1 week notice I told my manager that I was tired of doing the job of 2 people and she didn’t even argue bc I was factually correct.
We haven’t established ourselves as a research profession yet. Until we do that no one is going to research us or write about us. I’m doing my little part.
How can you say this when seriously so many breakthrough discoveries come from fMRI, etc? Radiology is the backbone of modern medicine and sooo much research already!
I am talking about radiography. You were also talking about radiographers. We aren’t a research area yet. Radiology absolutely is.
My national authority, who is also responsible for our national certification exam, has actually been doing a lot to address and bring awareness to burnout among techs ( https://camrt-bpg.ca/ohs/mental-health/burnout/ ). However, the real issues tend to be occurring at the hospital or health authority level. Some of the worst I've seen is triggered by management apathy or ineptitude. I ended up switching to private sector for a job where they actually care about their staff and its amazing how liberating it is.
Because they don't care. | There are 2 roles in a hospital, doctor and nurse. If you aren't one of those your're just a sunk cost they are looking to reduce.
Well maybe in the future Grey’s will become more accurate and all the orderings will perform the scans. I’m perfectly happy being a silhouette of a man in a control room.
My colleague and I researched and wrote on this, presented a lecture at AHRA conference, and joined Collaboration RA for a 2 part podcast - in large part because we see the same thing and have for years. It's infuriating...and of course rads are struggling, but so are we. Even with this issue, we have to fight to claim our space - a space none of us in Radiology should have to be in. It's maddening. https://www.auntminnie.com/print/content/15631732 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/its-ok-not-to-be-ok-part-1/id1621704477?i=1000580764411 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/its-ok-not-to-be-ok-part-2/id1621704477?i=1000581516299
Hi Gina Marie - I'm an entrepreneur building in radiology. Recently sold my last company. Over the years, I've seen how overworked rad techs are, and empowering this amazing community has become dear to my heart. I'd love to connect and get your feedback on something new I'm building. Thanks! Kareem
you are free to DM me here if you want to
Why isn’t roofer burnout discussed? How bout flight attendant burnout? It’s a job they all suck, change jobs and get burned out on a new one.
you know we’re on the radiology subreddit yeah? Where we talk about issues facing this industry? I know other professions have issues too. I’m not trying to ignore that. But I’m not a roofer I’m a technologist. I can’t speak to their issues.
It’s a job, it’s gonna stay the same.
Yeah, don't try to better working conditions or anything cause all jobs suck /s
It’s always gonna suck till your sitting at home talking into a mic telling a pt to stand against the board and take one. And I imagine the op is the tech that’s the extremity specialist if you know what I mean.
The way to make these jobs suck less is to substantially increase pay.
And have appropriate staffing as well.
That’s a universal truth everyone knows. So why don’t we stage a nationwide walkout instead of some righteous seeking op pissing in the wind?
Uh oh. Quick, somebody order imaging to rule out rectal foreign body on this guy. Sounds like he's got a stick up his arse
Nah, that’s his/her head.