Personal Narrative: A Career In Radiologic Technology

Radiologic Technology is an interactive career in which X-ray machines utilize ionizing radiation to take images of patients’ bones throughout their bodies that may or may not be broken. The image is then sent to a Radiologist who analyzes and diagnoses the image and sends the results to the doctor. As a technologist you must be able to effectively operate the X-ray machines, correctly position patients, interact with them to make them feel comfortable while always staying as protected as possible around the radiation that both the technician and the patient are exposed to. Radiologic Technology has branches of specified training and certification for the administering of CT scans and MRI’S. Technicians may also chose to branch into Nuclear Medicine, Ultrasound Technology and Radiation Therapy. This choice of career allows many different paths to concentrate your interests in while working in the same general field by adding on training for various specialties within the …show more content…
Communication will occur with not only the Radiologist and the other Radiologic Technologists but also with the patients. During my job shadow at Maine General Medical Center, I experienced observing an elderly patient who was getting prepped to have a CT scan. The man was very stressed and uncomfortable and the result was they ended up rescheduling the scan. X-rays and scans can make people feel intimidated and uncomfortable. It’s very important to talk to the patient and make them feel as comfortable as possible in order to get them to cooperate for the perfect image that you need to get. It’s also very important that there’s no confusion between the Technician and the Radiologist, because you don’t want to have to re-do the scan. Everyone is limited to a certain amount of radiation in his or her lifetime; you wouldn’t want to be responsible for exposing a patient unnecessarily as a result of a bad