Pursue a Career as a Radiology Nurse

Radiology Nursing is a fast growing field, driven by constant advances in imaging and diagnostic technologies. As a Radiology Nurse, you may help perform sonograms, mammograms (breast tissue imaging), MRI, CT/CAT scans and x-rays. You may be called upon to assist doctors in the administration of radiation therapy, nuclear medicine and even hyperbaric therapy.

As a Radiology Nurse, you may also be asked to develop and manage a care plan to help patients understand certain medical procedures and to recuperate from these procedures. You may perform preventive health procedures as prescribed by the radiologist and record a doctor's findings. Exactly what you'll be asked to do as a Radiology Nurse will be governed by a specific hospital's policies. At some institutions, you may be asked to help patients onto imaging machines or introduce imaging chemicals into a patient’s veins. Other institutions may ask you to operate the imaging devices. And, you may, in rare cases, be trained to perform catheter-imaging procedures.

To become a Radiology Nurse, you'll have to graduate from an accredited nursing school and pass a national licensing examination. If you're already a registered nurse (RN), you'll need to undergo special skills training. Some hospitals and colleges also provide Radiology Nurse training programs. These programs expose nurses to the basics of radiology, including radiology safety, and they teach them to operate increasingly complex imaging systems. The Association of Radiology Nurses in America (ARNA) helps members gain training and certification. Radiology nurses earn a respectable income, averaging $58,240 a year.

Alex A. Kecskes has written hundreds of published articles on health/fitness, "green" issues, TV/film entertainment, restaurant reviews and many other topics. As a former Andy/Belding/One Show ad agency copywriter, he also writes web content, ads, brochures, sales letters, mailers and scripts for national B2B and B2C clients.