 Gwen Hall, student at Heart of Georgia Tech
"You have a lot of opportunities In this profession," said Teresa Resch, program director for radiologic technology at Coosa Valley Technical Institute. "You don't know 'what you'll be doing all day. You may be x-raying a trauma patient, in the emergency room or doing chest xrays all day long. You need to be flexible."
General procedures like — chest x-rays and fluoroscopy to detect stomach problems are part of the job. But so are portable exams for patients in intensive care or during surgery.
"For a broken ankle, you might do an x-ray during surgery to check where the pins are,"
Resch said. "Or for a gall bladder operation, you might do an x-ray to make sure the surgeon got all the stones."
The two-year program is extremely competitive and there is usually a waiting list. After one quarter of core courses, students jump right into the technical subjects, including clinical work in a hospital.
Students study subjects like physics and electricity so they understand how the equipment works and learn to detect problems. Classes on radiation teach students how to know if an x-ray is good and how to make it better because a correct diagnosis depends on the quality of the x-ray.
"From a technical standpoint, a student needs good basic math, algebra and science," Resch said. 'They should possess a desire to learn, an inner feeling that they care for people and an ability to learn from others. And they must be motivated and need to be able to problem solve."
Clinical experience is an important aspect of the training. In the second quarter, students spend one or two days a week in a clinical setting, but by the seventh quarter, four days a week are in the clinic.
This is a field that offers a lot of variety. There are many specialty areas and room for further training.
"That's what's unique about radiology," Resch said. "You can expand, do different things, and don't have to stay in general radiology."
With an additional year of training, radiologic technologists can provide radiation therapy for cancer patients. Graduates also can go into nuclear medicine, sonography or learn to do imaging with CT-scanners or MRI.
Starting salaries in a hospital are around $14 per hour. And there is plenty of room for advancement and further training. And with 100 percent job placement, this is definitely a hot career.
EMPLOYMENT AND OUTLOOK: A 35 percent increase in the number of radiologic technologists is expected in Georgia by 2005. Staff technologists in large radiography departments who take additional training may advance to clinical jobs. Qualified radiologic technologists in hospitals may be promoted to supervisory positions, such as chieff technologists, technical administrators and,dir6ctors of radiologic and nuclear medicine departments. Others with master's degrees and considerable experience advance into teaching and administration. Some take positions as sales representatives or instructors with equipment manufacturers.
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