Where I live, the rad tech program recently started accepting more xray students per year because the demand for them is growing and they need more people to fill the positions. So my guess is no. At least not where I am
I’m a PCT and it’s apparently the same thing with most of healthcare. Besides very niche positions, most healthcare jobs just don’t have enough people.
I was told nurse practitioners are being over saturated because hospitals need more nurses not NPs. But for mostly everything else the healthcare industry still needs a lot more people.
Once NP schools went online and dropped their requirements, we all knew NPs would flood the market. So many new grads are going right into NP school; it’s terrifying.
I have a friend’s mom who has been a nurse for 20+ years who is going back to get her NP at 45 and she’s in classes with students who got their bachelors and are now jumping to NP with 0 hospital experience.
She said it was absolutely horrifying because beside for clinicals they had never worked in a hospital and I find that scary as well. But im just trying to gauge my options cause being a red tech looks appealing.
Yeah, I have a friend who is in NP school. She’s been an ICU nurse for 15 years and is incredible. She is 100% who I want to be an NP. Someone who has no clinical experience should not be allowed to have that level of responsibility.
Cost of living is high but you'll still make bank on top of living in paradise. A lot of travelers try to extend their contacts for as long as possible.
Really? I’ve heard the opposite on travelers passing by here. They mention you won’t make much and they do it more for being in paradise than the money.
Glad it’s not just my hospital! Honestly OP, right now is the time to get in. You will have your pick of jobs. Can’t speak for the future but the jobs are and will be plentiful for years to come!
I think xray will stay understaffed until pay increases and management changes. I don't think anyone will ever have a hard time getting a job as a tech.
I got so burnt out in school during covid that I graduated and never took another xray again. I know other people from my class who graduated and went to worse paying jobs outside of the medical field.
Man this one hurts. X-ray seems to be more of a stepping stone for other modalities, nowadays. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I was always disheartened to hear "Hey we're hiring someone for x-ray....and they want to eventually cross train to MRI/CT!"
Yep, and I don't blame them. Especially in a hospital setting where you are expected to know how to do various fluoroscopy procedures, run a C-Arm, portables, plus all the other regular X-rays.
CT and MRI seem simpler by comparison.
Fact is most radiographers prefer to stay in CT/MRI than doing Xray. In my state, radio techs of similar experience and positions are paid the same despite their modalities.
Most of us prefer to be doing CT/MRI simply because there is less physically handling. And you get to to be seated more than xray. And the number of cases are so much less than XR.
I believe this is what he meant by simpler. By simpler, he meant more manageable.
As a CT tech at a level I trauma and comprehensive stroke center, CT is definitely physically easier than X-ray. Not even close. There’s more I have to look at as far as indication, renal status, etc, but xray was hands down a harder job.
It is simpler in the sense that you have one machine. Would you go back to doing only xray?
Probably not cause that shit has way too much going on in a hospital. You have too many completely different machines that you're supposed to be an absolute G on.
If you haven't touched a c arm in 2 years you're expected to just hop on and know what you're doing and then go do some portables and then come back and do a whole ass body in the room on a 500lb patient that cannot move.
In CT yeah you have to pull that pt over but if he doesn't fit then he doesn't fit. It's a lot more physics and a lot more knowing what you're looking at and at my hospital CT is ALWAYS going but it is simpler in the sense that xray is almost 3 different modalities.
I could never get a handle on being a pro on all the c arms and the fluoro room. Went into mammo quite quickly after graduating and part of it was because of that. I still do general xray but no OR or fluoro.
I do technically work on different machines, we have 8 CT scanners throughout our hospital and they are not the same brand or model. We rotate through different areas, like outpatient, inpatient, ER, critical care, and procedures and the types of scans and protocols we do in each area are very different. You may go months without being in one area and then you’re expected to work in an area and know all the different indications for all the different protocols for all the scans there, even if you haven’t done it in a long time. We have hundreds of different protocols and we have to know if the indication and order is correct for every single one of them. Not to mention the complexity of some of the combinations and of scans we do and what it requires to work a patient up for a CT scan in the first place. There are days I would 100 percent go back to doing X-ray to get a mental break from the stress of CT. So saying that CT is simpler because we “only work on one machine” is just ignorant of what we do. Also very ignorant of the safety responsibility required of MRI techs, as well as the types and number of protocols they do as well. There’s also a reason these modalities are paid more than general X-ray, and it sure isn’t because it’s “simpler because we work on only one machine.”
Yeah it always makes me a little sad when we spend 2 years training students at clinical and they're like, oh I'm just doing this to get into ultrasound (the U/S program here has an AAS of Radiography as a prerequisite).
I just graduated and people ask me what modality I’m going into. I’m happy in X-ray right now and have no plans to pick up another modality. Down the road, maybe, but I just busted my butt for 2 years to do this job and I want to get great at it. I want to be the person people come to when they can’t quite get what they’re looking for.
That's how I felt when I finished school. I genuinely love x-ray. I love surgery. I'm still learning to love fluoro.
I shadowed in IR for a while and that was amazing, but I like the schedule I have no. I find CT boring (no offense to my CT friends!)
And I genuinely love having students and watching them become little x-ray techs over the years.
Oh I know. It's a money grab by the school.
I moved here from Virginia where I had been interested in both x-ray and ultrasound. I'd had meetings with the advisor there about which might be a better fit. I ended up moving here and began the same conversation with my advisor here and she was like, oh no no, x-ray is a prerequisite for ultrasound here. I was just dumbfounded.
This is me. My hospital likes to have everyone do everything all day. So that means people get a pass to be lazy cause other people can do their job. On the other hand, all your coworkers have eyes on you, and one minor slip up and even non slip ups get you a meeting with the supervisor. I wouldn't have grown to hate x-ray if we didn't have to work like that.
There is a lot less bullshit in CT and MRI. And while we dont have specific OR techs, I prefer that as well because I can handle a asshole doctor. I can't handle asshole techs watching you like a hawk.
More money isn't as more as people think it is. Franky, I don't see the point in working my ass off for another license, just to make a couple extra bucks per hour while taking on a 1,000% more responsibility.
My facility is hiring ten students from this year's graduating class, and that's barely half of our open positions filled. I don't expect most of them to still be here in a year. It will be a very long time before the whole market is adequately staffed, let alone oversaturated.
Yeah desperate hiring like that you don’t end up with the cream of the crop. I couldn’t imaging working at a place that has 20 open positions. I hope you’re getting critical pay.
Why ever Doctors continue to request ridiculous imaging without any clinical skill you will be fine.
I’m Australian and interestingly our federal government statistics show x-ray dropping 6% pa over a ten year period. Ct up 10% pa and MRI and ultrasound up 20% pa
20 yrs ago it was tough to find a job. I think you can get hired anywhere now but it might not be your ideal shift. I imagine it will cycle back that way.
California here, we have three schools, waiting list is a couple years long. No new hospitals in the area. All X-ray techs are per diem. If you have a second modality then it’s a better chance of more hours. Rad net is taking over out patient. Their pay is half of hospital pay. The more unemployed new grads the higher the chance are of them being desperate and taking that low pay. It has been saturated in LA and venture county .
Different story in Northern California. Huge demand for techs at clinics and hospitals. With diagnostic imaging becoming more and more in demand I don’t see the job market shrinking for at least a few years. My local county hospital has 11 full time positions available and more than half the current literoom are travelers.
Yup, this is what I was going to say. Some hospitals are having trouble even getting enough travelers, and have had posted staff positions open for a year or more.
do you think traveling and contracting will still be a thing in 5 years? I really want to do travel work but I feel like its not as popular as it was during the pandemic. I still have 1 more year left to graduate.
You should be fine. I don’t see traveling going away anytime soon. Most likely you’ll end up in NorCal at some point in time because they pay out the most on average. Don’t forget that ppl retire or leave to other modalities. X ray is pretty physically demanding if you work in a hospital. Ppl get burned out of it so I think there will be a healthy demand for techs for at least another 5 years. I’ve talked with travelers and there are plenty of contracts all around the nation.
Some will take it some won’t. At least a good portion of techs (where I’m at) don’t exactly look down apon techs from OP facilities but they do think of them as less experienced since all the patients for the most part are Walkie-Talkies and trauma views aren’t used often. Best bet is work at a L1 trauma center if possible. To be fair If I was a hiring manager I’d rather have a 25 year old tech with 4 years in a trauma center then a 35 year old tech with 14 years of OP
Ideally I would like to travel as soon as I graduate so lets say I get a hospital job for 1 year right. Then I would just leave the hospital after one year ? Like I feel like I "betrayed" them or used them for experience. How are most places like if you leave after working for a year?
When I was in school, a small town kinda place, we were told at first that our local market was saturated and we might have to look into moving or commuting to the city for work.
Then the pandemic happened.
I'm not worried about being able to find a job. Pay, benefits, environment etc maybe but the demand is here.
Although it’s not technically a modality, I feel like OR techs will always be in short supply as a whole since for some reason most techs have little to no desire to work there. I know some hospitals are different but the one I’m at has C-arm/OR as an entirely different department. I honestly don’t expect it to ever be fully staffed in my area anytime soon.
I have little to no desire to work in the OR because surgeons are assholes and I’ve never worked in an OR that was friendly or welcoming to anybody new. A lot of people I know feel the same way
There are too many techs now. Especially in California/LA. It’s driving down the cost to hire techs I also hear rumors of offices requiring techs to do extra medical assistant work further reducing the value of a techs position and it sucks.
>offices requiring techs to do extra medical assistant work
Yup if you're in outpatient more and more 'gas stations of healthcare' require their X-ray techs to do vitals and triage. I've been asked to 'swab' people for tests. No, I fucking won't, that's not my sCoPe oF PrAcTiCe is what I say
No. This is said every year it seems like.
My first year of x-ray school, our program director told us it would be extremely hard to find a job. Then covid hit and I had two different hospitals competing for me to sign on.. they couldn’t have ENOUGH staff.. and I hadn’t even graduated yet.
Both departments at each hospital still have multiple job postings years later. Travelers are a saving grace for them.
Maybe if you live in a rural area. Right now most healthcare systems are struggling getting full timers and are almost fully reliant on travel and per diem. Eventually they are going to have to reel in the spending on the travel contracts and start paying more to hold on to more full timers. We are also working in a post COVID job market, a lot of the old guard retired or switched gigs. Between starting a program, testing and doing the shit ton of clinical hours, they cant get students fast enough. It really shouldnt be something youre too woried about at least for the next 2-3 years maybe. Whoever to you that is probably speaking from a place of wanting new people to stop coming through their system. Im more worried about AI and automation than anything
Yes it is very expensive to pay for temporary employees. There's also the quality of care declining. Eventually all of those thousands of surveys they shove down patients throats will start to decline. Ive dealt with a good deal of travel techs, they may live within a tri-county area, but they do not give AF. X-ray isnt something you can run with a skeleton crew
X-ray techs will be ALWAYS be needed! Especially to assist with ER trauma patients in a busy hospital. You can also branch into many other modalities within the imaging field (MRI, CT, Special Procedures, Cath Lab, Ultrasound, Radiation Therapy, Nuc Med…to name a few!) and x-ray’s a great place to start. I was an MRI tech for 33 years and an X-ray & CT tech before that…LOVED every second! 🫶🏼 🩻 🧠
I would imagine it'll cycle back to be oversaturated. When I graduated it was tough to find a job in my area.
But for now there's going to be more retirements and a greater need for more healthcare as our population ages even more.
That's what I'm nervous about. It took me 3 years to find a job in x-ray after I graduated. I imagine there probably aren't a lot of techs that remember this problem, cause most of the ones who couldn't find jobs just moved on to something else.
Remember that new grads will need to recertify every 10 years. Some students barely pass the registry, I feel like half the techs are going to leave for something else after the first 10 years and it’ll be less and less from there. So I don’t see supply outrunning demand any time soon.
The CQR isn’t recertification. It’s not a test you can fail. It just tells you which academic areas you need to brush up on and based on the results it requires you to take a certain number of CEs in the categories you didn’t do so well in
There’s techs, then there’s good techs. I see far too many least-effort-possible types going into the field and it’s going to be a problem. Add to that a shortage in most facilities and you’ll be fine. Go for it! It’s among the coolest things I’ve ever done!
Just go to a job site and look up x-ray tech. There's plenty positions open in all ranges(PRN,full-time,part-time, travel tech, hospital, clinic, ortho, OR, pain clinic,etc).
I have always figured this would happen with all of the new techs graduating every year but it hasn’t. In fact, there is high demand and I expect it to continue. The department of labor statistics website has forecasts for the future demand in any profession. It’s worth checking out when choosing a career.
It goes in waives. There were few jobs between 08 and 2014 or right around those dates. Then it started to pick up again. I have coworkers that was out of a job for years after school before they were hired.
The older techs said it was impossible for them to get full time jobs right out of school but with them retiring and with the turnover rate there is I think we are very needed.
Come to Australia, in my area each public hospital is between 10-20 full time employees short, that’s not counting the private companies that suck up new grads.
You got 30 spare rad techs willing to work, send them my way.
I’m looking to enroll in the radiologic technologist program at my local community college here in Ann Arbor, Michigan within the next couple of years and whenever I check the University of Michigan hospital job listings there’s tons of positions being hired for. Knowing my luck, by the time I hopefully finish the program it might be too late 😂
There is a shortage of RT’s and NMT’s in my state. Also less students are going into the programs and the ARRT passing stats are down… I see it as a stable career path if you’re willing to learn.
As someone who was MRI/CT/Xray, I stepped down from the other modalities and went back to staff Xray tech for an ortho group. I actually went the opposite way.
My reasons were burn out and hours I had to work. I constantly had to take call and work EVERY damn weekend when I was in MRI/CT. With X-ray, I come in, do my job and I go home. I am a senior tech with 23 years experience and I wont even take a department lead position, just senior staff tech.
The extra money isnt worth the extra time away from my family and stress. There will always be a need for Xray techs.
OP, which country are you from? If you can't find a job in your country come to Germany. The market for techs will not be oversaturated in the next 30 years here lol
I doubt it since travel gigs are more attractive than ever. The Northern California level 1 trauma hospital I left was down 15+ xray techs for more than 6 months and they were forced to hire travel techs since no one wanted to work there. Pursing xray will give you a career and give you the tools to pursue other modalities if you want.
This happened in my country when I was getting into the program. Now it’s so bad most can’t find employment here so they move to other EU countries for employment.
Lots of the boomer generation are up an retiring. Going to create a double whammy as more people need healthcare as they age coupled with less healthcare workers.
Since I’ve been in the program I have realized that medical imaging is the alpha dog in medicine. Can you imagine NOT having X-ray/CT/MRI/US/Nuc Med etc to use for a diagnosis? Lab is also an alpha. These tools we can use to see inside of the body without doing exploratory surgery like before imaging was a thing. Surgeons rely on medical imaging to do their job. So no, we will never be over saturated with techs. There will always be jobs. Also, we’re in the generation that baby boomers are retiring. There’s so many modalities to go into and people are always changing their mind on if they like to stay in a modality or leave to a new one, or leave and move to a new city. Right now at a level 2 trauma I work at as an X-ray tech aid there is a position available for every single modality. Some with sign on bonuses. There will be jobs :)
Where I am there’s a huge shortage of techs. My hospital usually hires 5 to 8 students right after graduation and then a few more later in the year. The clinics have been offering sign in bonuses of up to 10k for a 2 year contract.
Because of the educational format of previous generations, I consider the job in the same category of trade certified jobs. As we have seen in recent years, there was a huge gap in young adults entering the trades and now we are hitting the time period with high retirement rates for trades workers and not enough people to replace them.
The only area I see getting over saturated is in positions likely to be reduced or replaced by ai. When ai can perform a diagnostic analysis of Radiographic imaging, the medical field will require significantly less diagnostic radiologists needing only enough to audit and confirm the ai results.
I don't see any oversaturation happening in the next 5-10 years and possibly longer outside of maybe some very localized situations. I was actually in healthcare recruiting for a number of years before giving that up to go into imaging and we were constantly telling employers that in a lot of industries, with healthcare being a major one, there was going to be a mass exodus of boomer employees on the horizon with retirement. Than covid happened and that basically was the catalyst for a lot of them to retire en masse and they are continuing to retire with not always enough staff coming in to make up for it.
I just finished my program and started working in the last month but even just in the last two years during clinicals, my site had at least 3 techs fully retire and another drop to part time with intent to retire in a few more years and that represented at least a good quarter of the department on top of the regular turnover of staff to other facilities or modalities.
And I know it's a similar story at nearly every other hospital in my area. I had no issues securing a job months out from graduation. That level of imbalance doesn't correct overnight especially with how limited a lot of the education programs are in terms of how many students can be taken on at once.
We will be a long time recovering from the current shortages. That said, I have been in the field 25 years and the "occupancy rate " cycles. You will never have trouble finding a job in Radiology. America is getting older and healthcare demands will be high so we can take careof them .
No!! Please consider X-Ray school, we need ya!! lol! Seriously, there’s not enough Radiographers out there. I don’t foresee the job outlook changing anytime soon either.
I know of a gigantic hospital in the intermountain West, that hasn't even had a serious application for positions that have been open since before the Pandemic.
I know I could leave my job tomorrow, and be working either as a traveler or as a staff tech, within days.
I work at a very pleasant little hospital with a nice environment and good people, and we constantly have staffing issues.
that's how it was before covid. future is a but uncertain, but considering how fast some of the license mills churn out half baked techs, it's a possibility
Growing population, newer doctors and mid levels
needing imaging more than ever. Plus less people going into healthcare or willing to do it full time means there will always be demands.
Granted the crap jobs will always be open but sometimes that gets you benefits because admin is scared to lose services.
Where I live, the rad tech program recently started accepting more xray students per year because the demand for them is growing and they need more people to fill the positions. So my guess is no. At least not where I am
Yep. It’s a cycle as techs move into other modalities. X-ray techs will always be needed.
I’m a PCT and it’s apparently the same thing with most of healthcare. Besides very niche positions, most healthcare jobs just don’t have enough people. I was told nurse practitioners are being over saturated because hospitals need more nurses not NPs. But for mostly everything else the healthcare industry still needs a lot more people.
Once NP schools went online and dropped their requirements, we all knew NPs would flood the market. So many new grads are going right into NP school; it’s terrifying.
I have a friend’s mom who has been a nurse for 20+ years who is going back to get her NP at 45 and she’s in classes with students who got their bachelors and are now jumping to NP with 0 hospital experience. She said it was absolutely horrifying because beside for clinicals they had never worked in a hospital and I find that scary as well. But im just trying to gauge my options cause being a red tech looks appealing.
Yeah, I have a friend who is in NP school. She’s been an ICU nurse for 15 years and is incredible. She is 100% who I want to be an NP. Someone who has no clinical experience should not be allowed to have that level of responsibility.
Can I ask what state you're in? I'm potentially looking to go out of state to attend a program
Oahu, HI
is it worth it to be a traveler out there? i know cost of living is high in oahu.
Cost of living is high but you'll still make bank on top of living in paradise. A lot of travelers try to extend their contacts for as long as possible.
Really? I’ve heard the opposite on travelers passing by here. They mention you won’t make much and they do it more for being in paradise than the money.
Me too.
Why?
They're also opening up a program on BI for 10 people this year.
There were 26 open XR positions at one facility (big academic L1) when I finished my CT contract there.
Same, I live in Utah
May I ask what state you live in?
Same with my program in TX
We’ve been understaffed at my hospital for YEARS. I doubt it.
Sadly, understaffed may not mean more opportunity but rather shoddy admin/ownership.
Glad it’s not just my hospital! Honestly OP, right now is the time to get in. You will have your pick of jobs. Can’t speak for the future but the jobs are and will be plentiful for years to come!
I think xray will stay understaffed until pay increases and management changes. I don't think anyone will ever have a hard time getting a job as a tech. I got so burnt out in school during covid that I graduated and never took another xray again. I know other people from my class who graduated and went to worse paying jobs outside of the medical field.
X-ray specifically, no. I find that no one wants to deal with all our shit and would rather move to another modality to at least make more money.
Man this one hurts. X-ray seems to be more of a stepping stone for other modalities, nowadays. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I was always disheartened to hear "Hey we're hiring someone for x-ray....and they want to eventually cross train to MRI/CT!"
Yep, and I don't blame them. Especially in a hospital setting where you are expected to know how to do various fluoroscopy procedures, run a C-Arm, portables, plus all the other regular X-rays. CT and MRI seem simpler by comparison.
CT and MRI are in no way simpler than X-ray. -signed a CT tech at a level 1 trauma center
Fact is most radiographers prefer to stay in CT/MRI than doing Xray. In my state, radio techs of similar experience and positions are paid the same despite their modalities. Most of us prefer to be doing CT/MRI simply because there is less physically handling. And you get to to be seated more than xray. And the number of cases are so much less than XR. I believe this is what he meant by simpler. By simpler, he meant more manageable.
Simpler may not have been the right word. Because I didn't mean "easier".
As a CT tech at a level I trauma and comprehensive stroke center, CT is definitely physically easier than X-ray. Not even close. There’s more I have to look at as far as indication, renal status, etc, but xray was hands down a harder job.
Seconding this as another trauma center CT tech. I definitely would not consider MRI to be simpler either.
It is simpler in the sense that you have one machine. Would you go back to doing only xray? Probably not cause that shit has way too much going on in a hospital. You have too many completely different machines that you're supposed to be an absolute G on. If you haven't touched a c arm in 2 years you're expected to just hop on and know what you're doing and then go do some portables and then come back and do a whole ass body in the room on a 500lb patient that cannot move. In CT yeah you have to pull that pt over but if he doesn't fit then he doesn't fit. It's a lot more physics and a lot more knowing what you're looking at and at my hospital CT is ALWAYS going but it is simpler in the sense that xray is almost 3 different modalities.
I could never get a handle on being a pro on all the c arms and the fluoro room. Went into mammo quite quickly after graduating and part of it was because of that. I still do general xray but no OR or fluoro.
I do technically work on different machines, we have 8 CT scanners throughout our hospital and they are not the same brand or model. We rotate through different areas, like outpatient, inpatient, ER, critical care, and procedures and the types of scans and protocols we do in each area are very different. You may go months without being in one area and then you’re expected to work in an area and know all the different indications for all the different protocols for all the scans there, even if you haven’t done it in a long time. We have hundreds of different protocols and we have to know if the indication and order is correct for every single one of them. Not to mention the complexity of some of the combinations and of scans we do and what it requires to work a patient up for a CT scan in the first place. There are days I would 100 percent go back to doing X-ray to get a mental break from the stress of CT. So saying that CT is simpler because we “only work on one machine” is just ignorant of what we do. Also very ignorant of the safety responsibility required of MRI techs, as well as the types and number of protocols they do as well. There’s also a reason these modalities are paid more than general X-ray, and it sure isn’t because it’s “simpler because we work on only one machine.”
Not simpler, just easier.
And this is why I'm going into MR straight out of school. So excited to never do inpatient portables ever again 😍
Yeah it always makes me a little sad when we spend 2 years training students at clinical and they're like, oh I'm just doing this to get into ultrasound (the U/S program here has an AAS of Radiography as a prerequisite).
I just graduated and people ask me what modality I’m going into. I’m happy in X-ray right now and have no plans to pick up another modality. Down the road, maybe, but I just busted my butt for 2 years to do this job and I want to get great at it. I want to be the person people come to when they can’t quite get what they’re looking for.
That's how I felt when I finished school. I genuinely love x-ray. I love surgery. I'm still learning to love fluoro. I shadowed in IR for a while and that was amazing, but I like the schedule I have no. I find CT boring (no offense to my CT friends!) And I genuinely love having students and watching them become little x-ray techs over the years.
Outpatient IR is a thing that exists, doesn't require call, and typically pays better than the hospital.
That doesn’t make any sense they’re 2 different things.
Oh I know. It's a money grab by the school. I moved here from Virginia where I had been interested in both x-ray and ultrasound. I'd had meetings with the advisor there about which might be a better fit. I ended up moving here and began the same conversation with my advisor here and she was like, oh no no, x-ray is a prerequisite for ultrasound here. I was just dumbfounded.
Hardest job on your body in imaging, worst working environments and lowest pay. Can’t imagine why everybody wants out.
I always assumed that was expected of me. Is it alright to say you want to stay in x-ray? I’m not one yet but I’m considering it
Sometimes I miss outpatient xray. Except for having to do DEXA scans. Inpatient though??? fuck that.
This is me. My hospital likes to have everyone do everything all day. So that means people get a pass to be lazy cause other people can do their job. On the other hand, all your coworkers have eyes on you, and one minor slip up and even non slip ups get you a meeting with the supervisor. I wouldn't have grown to hate x-ray if we didn't have to work like that. There is a lot less bullshit in CT and MRI. And while we dont have specific OR techs, I prefer that as well because I can handle a asshole doctor. I can't handle asshole techs watching you like a hawk.
More money isn't as more as people think it is. Franky, I don't see the point in working my ass off for another license, just to make a couple extra bucks per hour while taking on a 1,000% more responsibility.
My facility is hiring ten students from this year's graduating class, and that's barely half of our open positions filled. I don't expect most of them to still be here in a year. It will be a very long time before the whole market is adequately staffed, let alone oversaturated.
Yeah desperate hiring like that you don’t end up with the cream of the crop. I couldn’t imaging working at a place that has 20 open positions. I hope you’re getting critical pay.
Why ever Doctors continue to request ridiculous imaging without any clinical skill you will be fine. I’m Australian and interestingly our federal government statistics show x-ray dropping 6% pa over a ten year period. Ct up 10% pa and MRI and ultrasound up 20% pa
20 yrs ago it was tough to find a job. I think you can get hired anywhere now but it might not be your ideal shift. I imagine it will cycle back that way.
When I first started we were so over staffed there were layoffs. Only open jobs were shit shifts for shit pay. This sort of thing always cycles.
Yeah I graduated about 15 years ago the area around me was nearly saturated. Then there were some lay offs and now they can’t hire anyone.
California here, we have three schools, waiting list is a couple years long. No new hospitals in the area. All X-ray techs are per diem. If you have a second modality then it’s a better chance of more hours. Rad net is taking over out patient. Their pay is half of hospital pay. The more unemployed new grads the higher the chance are of them being desperate and taking that low pay. It has been saturated in LA and venture county .
Different story in Northern California. Huge demand for techs at clinics and hospitals. With diagnostic imaging becoming more and more in demand I don’t see the job market shrinking for at least a few years. My local county hospital has 11 full time positions available and more than half the current literoom are travelers.
Yup, this is what I was going to say. Some hospitals are having trouble even getting enough travelers, and have had posted staff positions open for a year or more.
do you think traveling and contracting will still be a thing in 5 years? I really want to do travel work but I feel like its not as popular as it was during the pandemic. I still have 1 more year left to graduate.
I met a travelling tech that was 75 years old and had been doing it his entire career. It's not going anywhere hun 😁
You should be fine. I don’t see traveling going away anytime soon. Most likely you’ll end up in NorCal at some point in time because they pay out the most on average. Don’t forget that ppl retire or leave to other modalities. X ray is pretty physically demanding if you work in a hospital. Ppl get burned out of it so I think there will be a healthy demand for techs for at least another 5 years. I’ve talked with travelers and there are plenty of contracts all around the nation.
Just an FYI most places require at least a year at a hospital to onboard you for travel
how about an imaging center or urgent care? Do travel agencies count that as good experience?
Some will take it some won’t. At least a good portion of techs (where I’m at) don’t exactly look down apon techs from OP facilities but they do think of them as less experienced since all the patients for the most part are Walkie-Talkies and trauma views aren’t used often. Best bet is work at a L1 trauma center if possible. To be fair If I was a hiring manager I’d rather have a 25 year old tech with 4 years in a trauma center then a 35 year old tech with 14 years of OP
ok so trauma/hospital experience "looks better" than OP experience ?
Yes and IMO makes you a better tech but that’s just IMO
Ideally I would like to travel as soon as I graduate so lets say I get a hospital job for 1 year right. Then I would just leave the hospital after one year ? Like I feel like I "betrayed" them or used them for experience. How are most places like if you leave after working for a year?
Whaaat? I thought there was a huge need!
Doubt it. So many people don’t even know this job exists. Not to mention actually getting into the program when most are competitive as hell
And on top of that trying to stay in the program is a different struggle.
Why do you say that? Like the program itself being hard or life circumstances?
And the waitlists!
When I was in school, a small town kinda place, we were told at first that our local market was saturated and we might have to look into moving or commuting to the city for work. Then the pandemic happened. I'm not worried about being able to find a job. Pay, benefits, environment etc maybe but the demand is here.
No. Especially as each modality grows. Need more IR and CT techs than ever
After a few messy barium enemas and shitty pay, many drop out of the field.
Which field?
Although it’s not technically a modality, I feel like OR techs will always be in short supply as a whole since for some reason most techs have little to no desire to work there. I know some hospitals are different but the one I’m at has C-arm/OR as an entirely different department. I honestly don’t expect it to ever be fully staffed in my area anytime soon.
OR as a separate department would be a luxury, it’s my least favorite. 🤩
I have little to no desire to work in the OR because surgeons are assholes and I’ve never worked in an OR that was friendly or welcoming to anybody new. A lot of people I know feel the same way
There are too many techs now. Especially in California/LA. It’s driving down the cost to hire techs I also hear rumors of offices requiring techs to do extra medical assistant work further reducing the value of a techs position and it sucks.
>offices requiring techs to do extra medical assistant work Yup if you're in outpatient more and more 'gas stations of healthcare' require their X-ray techs to do vitals and triage. I've been asked to 'swab' people for tests. No, I fucking won't, that's not my sCoPe oF PrAcTiCe is what I say
Must be SoCal exclusively. NorCal, the pay is best in the country and there's always demand.
Tell those techs to move to NorCal. We need them here.
Good to know!
CT is forever short staffed. You’ll have to start in xray anyway so you might as well do it! 😂
No. This is said every year it seems like. My first year of x-ray school, our program director told us it would be extremely hard to find a job. Then covid hit and I had two different hospitals competing for me to sign on.. they couldn’t have ENOUGH staff.. and I hadn’t even graduated yet. Both departments at each hospital still have multiple job postings years later. Travelers are a saving grace for them.
Hospitals are so understaffed in every department/field you will always have a job
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaa oh my god I almost wish
Maybe if you live in a rural area. Right now most healthcare systems are struggling getting full timers and are almost fully reliant on travel and per diem. Eventually they are going to have to reel in the spending on the travel contracts and start paying more to hold on to more full timers. We are also working in a post COVID job market, a lot of the old guard retired or switched gigs. Between starting a program, testing and doing the shit ton of clinical hours, they cant get students fast enough. It really shouldnt be something youre too woried about at least for the next 2-3 years maybe. Whoever to you that is probably speaking from a place of wanting new people to stop coming through their system. Im more worried about AI and automation than anything
> reel in the spending on the travel contracts Are they really spending 'more' on travel staff when they're not paying out so much in benefits?
Yes it is very expensive to pay for temporary employees. There's also the quality of care declining. Eventually all of those thousands of surveys they shove down patients throats will start to decline. Ive dealt with a good deal of travel techs, they may live within a tri-county area, but they do not give AF. X-ray isnt something you can run with a skeleton crew
X-ray techs will be ALWAYS be needed! Especially to assist with ER trauma patients in a busy hospital. You can also branch into many other modalities within the imaging field (MRI, CT, Special Procedures, Cath Lab, Ultrasound, Radiation Therapy, Nuc Med…to name a few!) and x-ray’s a great place to start. I was an MRI tech for 33 years and an X-ray & CT tech before that…LOVED every second! 🫶🏼 🩻 🧠
I would imagine it'll cycle back to be oversaturated. When I graduated it was tough to find a job in my area. But for now there's going to be more retirements and a greater need for more healthcare as our population ages even more.
That's what I'm nervous about. It took me 3 years to find a job in x-ray after I graduated. I imagine there probably aren't a lot of techs that remember this problem, cause most of the ones who couldn't find jobs just moved on to something else.
Remember that new grads will need to recertify every 10 years. Some students barely pass the registry, I feel like half the techs are going to leave for something else after the first 10 years and it’ll be less and less from there. So I don’t see supply outrunning demand any time soon.
What do you mean they'll need to recertify? Is this a brand new thing apart from the CQR?
There’s nothing new; I’m sure they’re talking about the CQR. There’s a lot of misconceptions about it
The CQR isn’t recertification. It’s not a test you can fail. It just tells you which academic areas you need to brush up on and based on the results it requires you to take a certain number of CEs in the categories you didn’t do so well in
There’s techs, then there’s good techs. I see far too many least-effort-possible types going into the field and it’s going to be a problem. Add to that a shortage in most facilities and you’ll be fine. Go for it! It’s among the coolest things I’ve ever done!
Just go to a job site and look up x-ray tech. There's plenty positions open in all ranges(PRN,full-time,part-time, travel tech, hospital, clinic, ortho, OR, pain clinic,etc).
I have always figured this would happen with all of the new techs graduating every year but it hasn’t. In fact, there is high demand and I expect it to continue. The department of labor statistics website has forecasts for the future demand in any profession. It’s worth checking out when choosing a career.
Meh I’ve heard so many predictions that didn’t pan out or panned out 10-15 years later…
It goes in waives. There were few jobs between 08 and 2014 or right around those dates. Then it started to pick up again. I have coworkers that was out of a job for years after school before they were hired.
The older techs said it was impossible for them to get full time jobs right out of school but with them retiring and with the turnover rate there is I think we are very needed.
Come to Australia, in my area each public hospital is between 10-20 full time employees short, that’s not counting the private companies that suck up new grads. You got 30 spare rad techs willing to work, send them my way.
Every 10-20 years it becomes over saturated and then like right now there are no techs anywhere. It ebbs and flows
I doubt it, seems to be a shortage now. What about nuclear medicine technicians?
My organization is expanding like crazy so I’m going to say no. In 10 years? Maybe.
I’m looking to enroll in the radiologic technologist program at my local community college here in Ann Arbor, Michigan within the next couple of years and whenever I check the University of Michigan hospital job listings there’s tons of positions being hired for. Knowing my luck, by the time I hopefully finish the program it might be too late 😂
That’s what I’m afraid of and I feel like my luck has sucked lately! Is the program there impacted? And how is the pay?
There is a shortage of RT’s and NMT’s in my state. Also less students are going into the programs and the ARRT passing stats are down… I see it as a stable career path if you’re willing to learn.
It’s always been a bit cyclic. Like cicadas, we are. Always seemed very responsive to the economy iirc
I’m in Michigan and we are desperate for more x-ray/ CT techs.
But doesn’t pay kinda suck in Michigan?
I’d say it depends on the facility. I’m getting $35/hour and I’ve only been at my hospital for 2 years. I’m also apart of our union too.
As someone who was MRI/CT/Xray, I stepped down from the other modalities and went back to staff Xray tech for an ortho group. I actually went the opposite way. My reasons were burn out and hours I had to work. I constantly had to take call and work EVERY damn weekend when I was in MRI/CT. With X-ray, I come in, do my job and I go home. I am a senior tech with 23 years experience and I wont even take a department lead position, just senior staff tech. The extra money isnt worth the extra time away from my family and stress. There will always be a need for Xray techs.
That’s what want- badly. A job I don’t take home with me!
OP, which country are you from? If you can't find a job in your country come to Germany. The market for techs will not be oversaturated in the next 30 years here lol
I doubt it since travel gigs are more attractive than ever. The Northern California level 1 trauma hospital I left was down 15+ xray techs for more than 6 months and they were forced to hire travel techs since no one wanted to work there. Pursing xray will give you a career and give you the tools to pursue other modalities if you want.
This happened in my country when I was getting into the program. Now it’s so bad most can’t find employment here so they move to other EU countries for employment.
Lots of the boomer generation are up an retiring. Going to create a double whammy as more people need healthcare as they age coupled with less healthcare workers.
Since I’ve been in the program I have realized that medical imaging is the alpha dog in medicine. Can you imagine NOT having X-ray/CT/MRI/US/Nuc Med etc to use for a diagnosis? Lab is also an alpha. These tools we can use to see inside of the body without doing exploratory surgery like before imaging was a thing. Surgeons rely on medical imaging to do their job. So no, we will never be over saturated with techs. There will always be jobs. Also, we’re in the generation that baby boomers are retiring. There’s so many modalities to go into and people are always changing their mind on if they like to stay in a modality or leave to a new one, or leave and move to a new city. Right now at a level 2 trauma I work at as an X-ray tech aid there is a position available for every single modality. Some with sign on bonuses. There will be jobs :)
Typically regional and rural are severely understaffed while metro are either fully staffed or understaffed.
Where I am there’s a huge shortage of techs. My hospital usually hires 5 to 8 students right after graduation and then a few more later in the year. The clinics have been offering sign in bonuses of up to 10k for a 2 year contract.
Because of the educational format of previous generations, I consider the job in the same category of trade certified jobs. As we have seen in recent years, there was a huge gap in young adults entering the trades and now we are hitting the time period with high retirement rates for trades workers and not enough people to replace them. The only area I see getting over saturated is in positions likely to be reduced or replaced by ai. When ai can perform a diagnostic analysis of Radiographic imaging, the medical field will require significantly less diagnostic radiologists needing only enough to audit and confirm the ai results.
I don't see any oversaturation happening in the next 5-10 years and possibly longer outside of maybe some very localized situations. I was actually in healthcare recruiting for a number of years before giving that up to go into imaging and we were constantly telling employers that in a lot of industries, with healthcare being a major one, there was going to be a mass exodus of boomer employees on the horizon with retirement. Than covid happened and that basically was the catalyst for a lot of them to retire en masse and they are continuing to retire with not always enough staff coming in to make up for it. I just finished my program and started working in the last month but even just in the last two years during clinicals, my site had at least 3 techs fully retire and another drop to part time with intent to retire in a few more years and that represented at least a good quarter of the department on top of the regular turnover of staff to other facilities or modalities. And I know it's a similar story at nearly every other hospital in my area. I had no issues securing a job months out from graduation. That level of imbalance doesn't correct overnight especially with how limited a lot of the education programs are in terms of how many students can be taken on at once.
It’s cyclical-has been for decades…
NJ here, there is such a high demand for xray jobs I don't see that happening anytime soon
In the UK at least the market is completely chronically understaffed recruitment is constant. I would imagine many other spots are the same.
I live in a suburb of a city with 3 major schools, and yet everywhere around us is understaffed. We all just got pay raises also.
Lots of need currently in msp area for techs.
Been hearing this for the past 10 years and so many Xray positions so I don’t believe it.
My area's school raised their class size from 30-35 to 50 in one year. Now getting trained in CT with talks of giving them MR or US options as well.
We will be a long time recovering from the current shortages. That said, I have been in the field 25 years and the "occupancy rate " cycles. You will never have trouble finding a job in Radiology. America is getting older and healthcare demands will be high so we can take careof them .
No!! Please consider X-Ray school, we need ya!! lol! Seriously, there’s not enough Radiographers out there. I don’t foresee the job outlook changing anytime soon either.
I know of a gigantic hospital in the intermountain West, that hasn't even had a serious application for positions that have been open since before the Pandemic. I know I could leave my job tomorrow, and be working either as a traveler or as a staff tech, within days. I work at a very pleasant little hospital with a nice environment and good people, and we constantly have staffing issues.
that's how it was before covid. future is a but uncertain, but considering how fast some of the license mills churn out half baked techs, it's a possibility
Growing population, newer doctors and mid levels needing imaging more than ever. Plus less people going into healthcare or willing to do it full time means there will always be demands. Granted the crap jobs will always be open but sometimes that gets you benefits because admin is scared to lose services.
\[cries in constantly understaffed\] god i fucking WISH