United States; 16, September 2014: By year 2020 healthcare industry will need over 50,000 x-ray technicians to satisfy the growing demand — say representatives of XRayAssistant.com, leading website for prospective technicians. Even for healthcare this is a lot. Even for physicians, surgeons or nurses the growth rate is lower, and there is a reason.
Flow of patients will be constantly increasing in the upcoming years with implementation of Patient protection and Affordable Care Act. In this case trained medical professionals like x-ray techs are a great help for doctors and nurses, their salary is lower compared to the latter, and scope of duties they can perform is very significant.
However, x-ray technicians (or radiology techs) enjoy one of the best work-life balance among healthcare occupations. Their average salary this year is well over $55,000 per year. With growing demand it’s expected to increase.
Industry can face a challenge on how many radiology graduates it can produce over the upcoming years, and it’s a subject for ongoing debate among experts. “We’re already seeing a considerable increase in amount of students that wish to become x-ray technicians. Still, the demand is growing and there’s a plenty of opportunity in this field for high-school grads” — says Margaret Turner, a contributor of XRayAssistant.com.
On the other hand, and obvious workaround for satisfying the growing need in this kind of professionals, which can be lowering of educational requirements is not accepted by industry leaders. For example, there was a discussion about fitting the 2-year curriculum of associate’s degree (needed to obtain x-ray technician qualification) in a 1-year certificate program. This idea is not very popular, and major employers in this sector don’t want to compromise the quality of knowledge of graduates whey will potentially hire.
It’s expected that x-ray techs that are employed already will be asked to work extra time for additional pay, or take more responsibility, which is welcomed challenge for most of them. It can be a great step towards career promotion such as becoming a nurse, for example.
About XRayAssistant.com:
This is the leading website for those who consider career as an x-ray technician (can be also referred to as radiology/MRI technician). Insights from industry experts and thought leaders, latest news, all needed career information — requirements, salary certification, licensure, etc. Website is run by real x-ray assistants with 10+ years of experience in the field.
For Media Contact:
Margaret Turner
Contributor, XRayAssistant.com
[email protected]
http://www.xrayassistant.com
