Opinion please: Sonogram tech, surg tech, xray tech.....which field has most to offer and why...... (salaries, exam) - Education -universities, high schools, elementary schools, teachers... - City-Data Forum

deeds · 03-10-2009, 08:46 AM

Wondering which of these fields has good pay as well as diversity for continuing education.....

Padgett2 · 03-10-2009, 09:27 AM

All are sort of dead-end jobs. About all you could look forward to is getting to supervise a team of techs in a larger establishment.

Salaries will depend on where you work. Hospital? Small clinic?

However, if you are good, you would never find yourself out of work. Each would have it's drawbacks. Some would have very little patient contact. Others would have more. For example, the sonogram tech. It's just you and the patient during the exam. That's it. If it's a small office with few patients, you would probably have other duties. Big busy office, you might have time to chat with fellow employees.

The surgical tech gets a patient that's already asleep (usually) but has a lot of contact with the other members of the team. AND THERE IS NO MARGIN OF ERROR. Some nasty odors, yucky sights. And you may be one of the ones that have to help clean up the mess and keep your mouth shut about what you see and hear.

The X-ray tech, just snaps the picture. But there can be a lot more than just picture takers. They need to be a little sturdy as there may be times of having to help a heavy patient on and off the table. Little contact, but need to be able to make a patient feel at ease. If it's one of the complecated procedures with contrast, you'll have more to do. Maybe even learn how to handle CAT scans and MRI procedures. Could you calm down a patient that was hysterical? Could you calmly take a picture of a leg that had been shattered by gunshot or a person that had been in a horrible car accident? Could you handle a smelly homeless person?

One of the pluses of working in the medical field is that there is usually something always going on that is interesting. But if you are found out talking about the patients, you will find yourself without a job very soon.

Houston3 · 03-10-2009, 09:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deeds

Wondering which of these fields has good pay as well as diversity for continuing education.....

As an xray tech you could move up to MRI or CAT SCAN tech with added training or schooling.

And no matter what Padgett2 says working in the medical field can be very rewarding...LOL

My daughter in law is an xray tech and my daughter is an RN...they both love their work, being able to help those that need help..

I found out the other day that my daughter in law has to flush out people for some x rays...I asked her if it bothered her and she said you get used to it....

anadyr21 · 03-10-2009, 12:57 PM

I have had a significant number of surgical techs and EMTs (interestingly), that have had it with the pay and come into my class to get their bio pre-reqs to get into the nursing or rad tech programs (those 2 are the most popular, it seems). Those who survived the programs have said they are very happy with the work and pay.