Real Work, Real Life
Real Work, Real Life
Radiologic Technologist
On this week’s episode of Real Work, Real Life, I’m talking with Chaundria Singleton, a medical imaging and radiation therapy professional, or a radiologic technologist. One path we talk about here is one that I don’t hear quite as much about, the path from entrepreneurship into a career as an employee. I’m so glad to have an opportunity to share that path, because we so often romanticize the path of ditching your 9-5 to be your own boss, but there are tons of reasons that being an employee might be a better path for a person, especially in an in demand field like this. We cover so many important tips and considerations in the field, like the earning potential of different specialities, making sure you’re applying for an accredited program, and what actually happens if you accidentally get into an MRI with metal in your body. If you want to find out more about Chaundria and this field, you can follow her on social media at @acoupleofradtechs. If you enjoyed this episode, I have quite a few other interviews with people working in the medical field, like Kat, a physical therapist assistant or Chris, a registered nurse.
Follow Chaundria on social media @acoupleofradtechs
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Chaundria Rad Tech
[00:00:00] Welcome to real work real life, where I talk to real people about what they do for work and what that means for their lives. Today, I'm talking with Chandrea Singleton, a medical imaging and radiation therapy professional. Or a radiologic technologist. One path we talk about here is one that I don't hear about quite as much the path from entrepreneurship into a career as an employee. I'm so glad to have an opportunity to share that path, because we so often romanticize the path of ditching your nine to five to be your own boss.
But there are tons of reasons that being an employee might be a better path for a person, especially in an in demand field like this. We cover so many important tips and considerations in the field, like the earning potential of different specialties. Making sure you're applying for an accredited program and what actually happens if you accidentally get into an MRI with metal in your body. If you want to find out more about this field, you can follow Sean Drea on social media at a couple of rad techs. If you [00:01:00] enjoy this episode, I have quite a few other interviews with people working in the medical field, like cat, a physical therapist, assistant, or Chris or registered nurse.
And I'll link all of that in the show notes. So let's get into it.
Emily: Thank you so much for being here, Shondria.
Chaundria: Thank you for having me, Emily. I'm excited to be here.
Emily: So what do you do for work?
Chaundria: Well, my profession, it is titled a medical imaging and radiation therapy professional. My particular specialties are radiologic technology.
And then I also have sub specialties in MRI, CT, a little mammography and bone density, as well as diagnostic x, x ray.
Emily: Oh, okay. So interesting. Can you, for someone that does not have very much awareness of this field, can you give a little bit more, like someone goes to the hospital, they're getting an MRI, what's your role in that?
Chaundria: So yeah, many people have had our exams and they have no clue. They think we're nurses and we [00:02:00] just kind of just take it. We're like, yeah, yeah. So now we're becoming more aware that we need to educate people. So that was my purpose for coming on social media about radiology because I didn't really see it out there.
So if you were needing an MRI, say you're having low back pain and you go to your doctor and they say, we need to get an MRI to see really what's going on because you haven't responded to maybe treatment. Over the counter medications, they're not working or you have numbness in your legs. Sciatica is what people call it, but you can't feel your feet.
We're going to order an MRI because now we're doctors are concerned that your spinal cord could be compressed by the discs that are in your your spine. They could be protruding out and pressing on your spinal cord, which is problematic. And that's when you come in to see me and I lay you on the table for about 20 minutes, depending.
It could be. 10 minutes to 20 minutes and you have to hold still and listen to some amazing music. Some places have TV and we scan, use a loud magnet that makes a whole bunch of noise. And [00:03:00] it's it's a big magnet pretty much. So you have to change out of everything that you came in with, mostly You can leave your underwear on, but everything else has to come off.
And we can talk a little bit more about that. I can explain to you why, because people really, really want to know why do I have to take everything off? And then we have to make sure we screen you that you don't have any metal implants, like a pacemaker, a defibrillator, things such as any kind of implants, anything you aren't born with, we have to make sure you don't have.
And then we take your scan.
Emily: Wow. Okay. I did not know that TVs were available in MRIs. That's really changed my feelings about future MRIs. question about implants, I've always sort of wondered this this is a side sidetrack, but what happens if you accidentally were to get in one with an implant like that?
Chaundria: Yeah, it depends. So what we try to practice is safety. No matter if you have an implant or not, that is the, for me, 21 years of doing this, I haven't harmed anyone. And I plan on keeping it like that because I treat [00:04:00] everyone as if. You have not been screened and that includes workers as well. If you are not an employee of the MRI department, you're not coming in my department unless you're screened for your safety.
So if you have an implant, say a pacemaker, now they have pacemakers. Now that our MRI safe, we do scan patients now that have pacemakers, but there's so much red tape we have to go through before you can ever come in. So what can happen with the pacemaker, any pacemaker, even MRI safe pacemakers, it's a mechanical device.
And the MRI machine is a big magnet. So if you come not even in the room there, we have certain zones. And if you get past zone two, you're kind of in trouble. Zone three, that magnetic field can reach out that far and harm people. So we have to make sure you don't even come back that far when you have implantable devices because if it's a mechanical device that's designed to keep your heart pumping, then if it shuts off, we got a problem.
You know, we have a big problem. And [00:05:00] if you have a stimulator, a lot of people, I'm going to talk about things that are really popular now. We see a lot of people getting spinal stimulators because they have back pain and they want to get these stimulators placed directly on their nerves and surgeons do that and they're totally safe.
But they're not safe when it comes to MRI. We have to put them in an MRI safe mode is what they have. So the person has to bring this little remote control. They put up against their spinal stimulator, turn it off. We have to make sure it's turned off. The patient then proceeds into our scanner. We scan at a low.
It's like a low rate. That's the best way I can explain it to the average person, but we don't scan it. And we, and we still have to monitor the patient because these are my pieces of metal that are attached to your nerves. So if you didn't turn it off, you're, you're in a big magnet. So the harm could be not only it can dislodge things, but it also.
Can burn and that is the top injury to people. We see all these TV shows where things are flying out of the MRI [00:06:00] scanner, but the actually 59 percent of injuries are burns from MRIs.
Emily: Oh my gosh, okay, I've gotten us way off track, but that was interesting and I've always wanted to know. So thank you for indulging me answering that. How did you get into this field? What interested you about it initially?
Chaundria: Yeah. So actually I was a business owner. I have my own hair salon growing up. My mom wanted me to go to school to be a nurse. It was so secure. And my family members that are nurses, they make good money and they have great schedules. And I was like, eh, I don't want to do that. I didn't want to do it. Yeah.
I really, I like science, I really enjoy science, but I had a business and I was doing very well at it. And what happened was I got sick and I was out of work as an entrepreneur and I couldn't go back into that field. So my uncle, who was a radiologic technologist, and he was into management and leadership.
I always remember, I didn't know what he did. I just knew he wore scrubs. So I probably assumed he was a nurse [00:07:00] and he was like, why don't you go for radiology? And I'm like, he's like, I'm telling you, it's a really good profession. Didn't tell me much about it. Just, you know, we take x rays. So I was like, okay, I applied to the school.
I moved back to Atlanta, applied to. I went to four different schools, two accepted me, one being Emory University School of Medicine and Atlanta Medical Hospital had their own hospital based program. And that's how I got into it. I got accepted by those two schools and I went for it.
Emily: Awesome. Awesome. So I'm sure this is going to vary a bit. I'm guessing a bit by state, but can you talk about, you know, what education was required, what certifications, testings, what did it take for you to go from an entrepreneur with no experience to working in the field?
Chaundria: Yes, I already had some college. I had already completed a good amount of college. I didn't have to take the prereqs. I had everything. I think I had to take two classes. So you have to take, things have changed now. You're required to have a degree when you finish radiologic sciences. So it's a minimum [00:08:00] of an associate's degree.
Some programs are bachelors, but the minimum is an associate's degree. So you'll go to any program. They're all the same because we fall under a national licensing organization called the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists, the ARRT. They set the curriculum, an accredited program. will follow that curriculum.
And that's how you know you are in a program where you can get a job. Because if you go to these schools out here that are, Oh, we're going to make you an x ray tech, but we don't follow the ARTs guidelines. They're not accredited. You can't sit for your national license. And this is a problem because people are falling for it.
And, you know, each state has different licensing, but nationally we are licensed by a governing body that requires a certain standard. You know, it's like a nursing board. So we have a certain standard. So you apply to a school that is ARRT accredited, JRCRT accredited as well. And then, you know, you're in good hands [00:09:00] and you finish your, your career as a radiologic technologist two to four years, and you can specialize after that.
Emily: Wow. Okay. So That is interesting. And that's a really good tip about looking for something that has that national accreditation just to give yourself the maximum flexibility when you get out and get a job. So you complete your, your schooling and then do you sit for an exam afterward to get complete your your license?
Chaundria: Yeah, to complete your degree. Once you complete your degree in radiologic technology, then you can go ahead and sit for your license. If you went to a school that's accredited.
I say that a lot because I see on social media, all of these schools, like six weeks to be an x ray tech. And it's like, no, that's not an x ray tech.
You have to have a degree. You have to have a minimum of two years and be able to have an ARRT in order to work in a hospital. If you don't have an ARRT license. No one's going to hire you. So, and you have only three, three chances to pass that exam. And then you have to go back. Yeah. You got three chances [00:10:00] to pass the exam.
Emily: Wow. What is, is it like a fairly, would you say it's a fairly high pass rate? Do they prepare you so well that most people pass or is there a decent failure rate?
Chaundria: There's a failure rate. It's not high but many people feel like, oh, I can pass it. No, but the schools really do prepare you. I feel like when I was in school and I hear from students now you are tested heavily. To pass that register, your testing to pass is harder than the actual exam. So most people don't have a problem, but you, I just got a DM from someone asking, what do they do?
They failed it for the third time. And now they got to go back to school for radiology
Emily: Oh
Chaundria: and that's sad, but it does happen.
Emily: Yeah. That, those kinds of career paths where a test is required at the end and you And yeah, there's even ones that they prepare you exceptionally well for it. There's going to be people that don't get through it. Oh, that's so tough. Did, did they have to like start over when that happens?[00:11:00]
My gosh. Oh, that is a bummer. Yeah. I'm sure. The cost of all this is going to vary so much by program that you get into. But is this sort of the educational path where there's pretty decent scholarships and need based funding, or is it most people are kind of paying the full cost? Do you have any kind of awareness of what kind of school costs might look like for people?
Chaundria: Yeah. So it would depend on what school you went to. I went to a private medical school, so it was very expensive. For me, this was 20 years ago as well. I think education has gotten very expensive compared to when I was in school.
Emily: Way.
Chaundria: Yeah. I hear some of the numbers and I'm like, Ooh. Oh my God, that's a community college.
Emily: I know. So it is tough. It is
Chaundria: So I actually just did a live on Tik Tok and I had people coming in. So we have private, what's, what's coming about is also not only the community colleges and the universities have the [00:12:00] programs, but because there's such a shortage in programs and we have a shortage in technologists in the field, there are private schools opening up that have the curriculum that's approved.
Now there, it's kind of like if you went to. Georgia state. And you lived in the state of Georgia. Yes. It's a university. You're going to pay less otherwise, if you went to Mercer university, which is a private well known established university, but you're going to pay probably two or three times more because you're at a private university.
So that's how that kind of goes. We do have some accredited private schools and they do cost upwards of 60 to 80, 000.
Emily: Wow.
Chaundria: Which is really high.
Emily: So thinking about that a little bit in this career path, would you say that there's a lot of benefit from picking the most selective education that you can, or do you find that benefit from? But it's really more about having that certification wherever you got it from and then [00:13:00] on the job showing your skills.
Like do you think it's worth it to pay a lot more for the most selective education or is it really more about your skills
Chaundria: That's a good question. It depends on it. I will say The school I went to because the alumni is so strong. I feel like that was a bit, that's a benefit to me because my alumni is so strong. Many of the jobs I have gotten my alumni work there. They look out for each other. They make sure because they know the education you got, they know the type of, and they, they are there.
communicate with each other and they talk with each other. So people know each other and they can recommend you, you know, so sometimes if you're at a school where the alumni is strong, that is a good thing. So you have to think about that, but because it's so competitive to go to school for radiologic technology and sciences, I encourage people apply to every school that you can drive to comfortably every day Accept whoever takes you as a student and then get your certifications because your [00:14:00] money to me depending on what direction you want to go because we have so with AI coming out, we have so many directions we can go in.
We don't have to just do patient care. I've done a plethora of things that had nothing to do with patients. I've worked in research when it comes to MRI for many years at really top universities doing MRI scans, but it was a more research base and it requires a certain level of experience. And eye of detail when it comes to doing research.
There are people that work with veterinarians, large veterinarians, and they do radiology of all scopes.
Emily: Yeah.
Chaundria: And some people just work in the OR. And then some people work remotely and they do things such as sales or clinical applications. I did that for a number of years. So there are so many directions you can go.
And leadership is another thing. You can go into education. That's going to require you to, of course, get like master's degrees, PhDs for some of those. But again, certifications, even as a leadership role, directors of hospital have to have CRA [00:15:00] certifications. There's certifications still make you a lot of money in addition to your education.
Emily: Yeah, absolutely. So talking about that a little bit, can you sort of share if somebody goes into this field and they're thinking about, you know, what are they going to make maybe the first year out? And if you have a sense, what sort of different paths might be higher paying, what paths might be lower paying, just general ranges of compensation for people thinking about this field?
Chaundria: Yeah. I have a series that I'm doing now on social media about that. I just did one video and people really loved it because people, when I got into the field, didn't talk about money. Thank goodness. I had a circle of people that when I went for my first job interview, my managers and directors, they were like, when you go in, this is what you asked for.
I mean, I'm so grateful for that because they knew their facility. They knew what the pay was and they knew how I had worked. for the last two years and they wanted to keep me. So they made sure that I was paid for a [00:16:00] new grad and this was 20 years ago. So what I tell people is do your research.
There are tools like zip recruiter. We have a salary. com website. The ASR T has a salary and they put. send surveys out to technologists all over the U. S. to ask them what is their salary anonymously and what, what's their level of education, how long have they been in the field so they can gather all of this information and be very accurate, better than Zip.
Recruiting other, other places because they're getting real surveys, do those things. And also remember that when you come in, if you have not gone for another certification, you're not going to make if you're living in small town, Iowa. With one hospital, you're not going to make with someone in New York City is making that works in a trauma center who does call and, you know, has to do pacemakers and many other detailed exams.
So you, you have to kind of weigh all of those things. And when you're just starting out, most [00:17:00] average diagnostic x ray technologists, I think I'm going to do MRI technologist, the average MRI technologist. What make about close to between 90, 000, maybe not starting out, but just average 90, 000, again, that would depend on your experience.
But in the 13 percent range, 90, 000, it can go up to like Kirkland, Washington. My video said like it was 160 K.
Emily: For a job with an associate's degree, I don't know that that's pretty great. I
Chaundria: a lot of detail. Yeah. People really don't understand. We, our profession is really quiet and I feel like we're finally coming out of the shadows and really letting people know, you know, we're the third largest medical profession in the nation. Third largest doctors, nurses, then us medical imaging.
We do a host of things. I would say just in diagnostic x ray, which people think is just laying your wrist down, taking an x ray. We do hysterosalpinograms ERCP. There are so many exams we do within just that category. Barium [00:18:00] swallows. We work with a variety of different patients and that's not even pediatrics.
Pediatrics is a whole nother ball game. I did that for many years that takes so much detail and experience because their bodies are not developed. So what we learned in school was on adults and what we see, we have to also know anatomy, but we also have to know pathology because as we take your images, we have to make sure you don't leave.
And if we let you leave and there is a aneurysm that. We didn't pick up because we can't alert the radiologist to, Hey, I'm going to have you look at this before this patient leaves. And that patient gets home and something happens. We have to be the eyes of even the doctors, even though we don't read and we're not doctors, we still have to be the eyes.
There's a lot of moving parts to our job. We just kind of, even us take for granted, but also the public sometimes takes for granted. And uh, we may not inject medications and, but we work in the OR with doctors. We actually, I did CAT scans, I still do them for many years, and we work in the room doing biopsies with radiologists.
Emily: [00:19:00] Wow. So a medical doctor is actually like reading the results formally, but you all certainly have responsibility to like catch those urgent situations where you can and make sure that a, a doctor is then evaluating. But, and I should have said, going back to what you said about compensation, I said, you know, the ranges you said were really good for an associate's degree.
It's good period. That's
a good income, but I am just that kind of, That balance of education with pay is I'm thinking back to people I've interviewed and trying to see if I've come across another, job with that, somewhat low you know, not, not having to have like a both undergrad and advanced degrees and have that compensation.
That's really,
Chaundria: many of us, I, I, I laugh because most of the people that I know in this field who've been doing it my time have at least a master's degree. Many of us, you know, we, we still go beyond the [00:20:00] minimum requirement. And now the programs are changing to bachelor's programs. They are really changing it to a bachelor's nursing is trying to do the same thing because to be a nurse, you, you only need an associate's degree to be a nurse.
You don't need a bachelor's.
Emily: Right. Right. But they're pushing much more. It does seem like bachelor's becoming the standard for that sort of work.
Chaundria: Many of the schools are turning to bachelors, but you still have a lot of associates programs out there for a lot of the medical jobs. And that's the one thing that I say when it comes to what we do is the level of expertise. So I'll give you an example. I. I've, I still scan and you would get patients that come in just for headaches or abdominal pain and that's totally not what's going on in their bodies.
And you know, it's, it's really people, it's sad because if you are just scanning, which is something we just don't do, we have to, and so the radiologist may not get to that right there. Most places don't have a radiologist on site unless it's a [00:21:00] hospital and at a hospital they're reading for every modality.
So they're not just sitting there waiting on me to bring this. CT abdomen to them, that's going to go into a bucket of things to be read, unless it's a stat or urgent. And everybody that comes in a hospital or comes in an imaging center is not stat. So that may wait, they have up to 24 to 48 hours to read it.
So if that person has something that needed to be looked at urgently, and I just passed it on through because I didn't pay attention to the pathology or didn't understand a pathology, imagine if that was you.
Three days went by, four days went, you know, and now it has to go through transcription. The radiologist reads it, goes through transcription, has to get back to your doctor whose MA has got a long line of things, you know, or they can't find your doctor's cell phone to give them an urgent call.
Like there's so many things that if we are not the eyes of the doctors and a radiologist to alert them that, Hey, I got a patient on my table. I think you want to look at this before they get up.
Emily: Yeah. I, one thing I do think about a lot with the medical field is if you're [00:22:00] someone that's thinking about going into the medical field, almost every sort of medical career that I've spoken with, I think you need to be pretty good at like shaking off. Mistakes and near misses because they will happen.
You will at some point, miss something despite all of your best efforts and I think it's worth kind of sitting with yourself and thinking, can I get past this, shake it off and move on? And with my career happily here, will I sort of live in fear of these, you know, mistakes and misses before you go into that field or don't go into that field?
Because there's other careers where you can spend your whole life and there's no mistake that's life or death that you'll have to make, you
Chaundria: Well, look, you know, I used to drive trucks for FedEx when I was paying my way through radiology school. And, you know, I
Emily: cares? Who
Chaundria: all the time.
But, you know, sometimes it was medication or their paychecks. Like, I remember Chick fil A was one of my [00:23:00] stops and They were like, can you please give us our checks before 11 o'clock? And I realized those people were trying to get, I didn't think about it. Cause I have direct, I think, you know, our priorities is so different because I had direct deposit. So I didn't have to walk around with a check. But these people, they were like, look, we need our check before 12 o'clock, because if we have to wait till we get out, the check cashing place is going to be closed.
We, I didn't ever think about that. Like that was never a thought of mine, but I started getting them their checks before 11 o'clock because that was important to them. And if I got them there later, They were going to either not have money for the weekend or not. You know, so, you know, that kind of goes back to, you know, the importance of whatever we do, someone's livelihood, someone's something is dependent on it.
You know, I mean, It may not be a big deal to me, but cause I got direct deposit, but not that was like, I might need to pay my rent. [00:24:00] And you know, that Friday with this check. So if you get here at 12, it's too late.
Emily: Yeah. That is such a good point. It's so important to remember.
Yeah.
Chaundria: it's a funny story, but
Emily: No, it's a, it's a fabulous point. And it is true. You know, all of our work has meaning and impact to people in one way or the other, certainly.
Chaundria: yeah, yeah, yeah.
Emily: So thinking about this is kind of super tactical, but like, you know, compensation, there's a range certainly based on your specialty and where you are.
Sure. But. It, you know, I think a good range with upward potential. What about things like general benefits? Do you find that most jobs are going to come with like a typical salary job like healthcare and short term disability and retirement benefits and leaves like parental leaves and things like that?
Or is that not as typical with these roles?
Chaundria: Oh yeah, that's a good question because you're working for, it depends. Some people work for hospitals so you get all the, you know, you're going to get all that retirement, all that. And even depending on your hospital you work for, [00:25:00] I did a job up at I think it was Temple University. Their children, part of their benefits because they unionized is their children, dependents get to go to, I think Temple University or Penn State or all of them.
Emily: Whoa,
Chaundria: And the employees do as
well.
That's huge, huge. I will work for pennies. If I could get my child's education, even half of it paid for. So when I tell people, when they try to negotiate how much they make, don't always go for the large amount of money. If that company is paying you matching your, you know, Your 401k, they're giving you six weeks or 12 weeks vacation and other places paying you 5 more, but they're giving you none of that and only match and not matching you at all or matching you 2%.
You got to kind of weigh all of those things because you're going to pay one way or the other. But we have a beautiful thing in that we can work Baylor, which is weekends. You can work the weekend shift. So that means you just work Friday, [00:26:00] Saturday, Sunday, and you're off. And a lot of times it's only like 36 hours and get paid for 40.
Some people work 7 days on, 7 days off. Some people work 3 12s, 3 days a week, 3 12 hours, 4 days a week, 10 hours, 5 days a week, 8 hours. And many people work PRN as needed. That is no benefits. You get no benefits, but you get higher pay. And you work as you want. You don't have to ask for vacation. You don't, you know, none of that.
You have no permanent job there, but you are permanent. It's not a full time job, but you are permanent. So you have options. We have a lot of options.
Emily: Wow. Yeah. So that's nice to know that it is sort of like the, particularly I'm sure if you lived in a more populated area where there are a lot more jobs to pick from, but it's cool to know how many different schedule options there are, which I think it sounds also when I've spoken to nurses, that's similar, that there's just a lot of different ways you can make it work based on what your need is and interest is at the time.
Chaundria: Yeah. And we can travel as well. Like you see [00:27:00] nurses being traveled, nurses, we are travel technologists. I've been a travel technologist for many years of sometimes more paid than, I mean, our pay is pretty neck and neck with nurses is it's about the same, you know, a lot of the allied health professions are pretty much sometimes more than nurses, but pretty much the same.
And we get to do the same things. We have a PACS administrators informatics, more of an it role used to be nursing only had that, but we have that for imaging. I have several friends that do that. There's, I mean, when I tell you there are so many things and you know, that's why getting on social media and really educating, especially younger people who are coming through high school, everyone doesn't want to go to school to be a doctor.
Everyone doesn't want to go to school to work in a cubicle. And some people want to work three twelves and it's like, whatever job lets me work three twelves. I'll do it.
Emily: Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Everyone has different aims. I think.
Chaundria: Yeah.
Emily: Yeah. Wow. Okay. yeah. I think you mentioned this already, but how do you view the prospects for people entering this [00:28:00] field? It does. It seemed like there's kind of tons of work available, tons of opportunity, or are there any risks on the horizon?
I know you mentioned kind of AI. I felt like it was giving more opportunity. Does that seem like it's threatening the field in any way, any sort of thing for people considering entering the
Chaundria: I think it depends on how you look at it. Like some people feel like AI, oh no, it's going to take our jobs because. You know, anything could take your job. New people coming out of school can take your job because they're going to work for less. You know, that's how I look at it. I think if you use the time to focus on honing your skills and becoming very versatile in anything that you do, you'll have options.
And that's what I encourage people. One thing about our field, we have medical imaging, but we have over 11 modalities under that. You have 11 options to be certified in and each one increases your pay. Okay. Each one increases your flexibility. So as people are coming into the field, I encourage them go to school for radiologic technology, and then everything is open to you.
We have a [00:29:00] new program. It's been around for 20 years, but it's really gaining momentum. We know physicians assistants, right? But this is a radiologist assistant, a RA. They do just like a PA, but the only difference is a PA can work independent on everything of a doctor. A RA cannot work independent on everything, but they still can do things like all the floral exams, like barium swallows, barium enemas.
They could put in ports feeding tubes. They can do all of those things. Uh, PAs can bill insurance. So there's a, there is a difference between the two, but those, those are the differences. Our major roles, but you can only do that job if you go to school for radiologic technology. So the one thing about our profession, you can go into medical imaging without going to radiology school by having a degree already and applying to either MRI school and that'd be your primary, but you can only do MRI.
You can't do anything else. You can apply to nuclear medicine school, but you can only do nuclear medicine. You can't do CT. You can't do, you can't do anything else. You can go to [00:30:00] radiation therapy school. It's a great field, but it's really competitive. Radiation therapy is extremely competitive. They don't take a lot of students.
There aren't many schools. And they get paid really well. And those people stay in those jobs until like 70 or 80 years
Emily: cancer treatment.
Yeah. so what you're saying basically is if you, let's say you have a bachelor's degree in any old thing already, and you didn't want to go back for the full, you know, either another bachelor's or an associate's, you could do a very specific route, but then you'd be limited to that route.
Chaundria: Yeah, you could. What sometimes we have is people that are biology degree people and they were planning to go to medical school and they decided, Nope, don't want to do that. And they see radiation therapy and they say, wow, I'm going to go for that. So they go to radiation therapy school. Now they can only do radiation therapy, but from radiation therapy, you have other areas like a dosimetrist, a medical physicist.
You can only be those two things. If you're a radiation therapist first.
Emily: Wow.[00:31:00]
Chaundria: Yeah, it's a lot of different moving parts to our profession that all follow up. And that's why I say options, options, options. There's no other medical profession other than a doctor. I feel that you have this many moving parts and options within it.
They require more education. You know, of course, medical dosimetries, you're going to school, getting a master level degree. Our A is a master level degree, medical physicists. But that's what a lot of people do. So those are your four pathways into medical imaging. And the other three are where you don't have ultrasound as well.
You don't have to go to school for radiologic technology to be a ultrasound tech.
Emily: Right. But that, again, you can only do yeah. yeah. Interesting. Okay. Wow. Oh, this is, I'm learning so much about this. I had no idea. All right.
So you've mentioned a lot of amazing things about this job, but. Would you add anything that you really love about your work, especially if you think people would find it surprising?
Chaundria: Some people think we see blood and guts. I mean, sometimes [00:32:00] we do, you know, if you work in OR, sometimes you sometimes you see things that live with you. And I have in the 21 years I have, I'm going to my 22nd year, but I have been able to bring more laughter to pay. I don't laugh as much anywhere except at work.
I mean, the patients are either really funny. Or, you know, they're going to make you laugh some kind of way or just situations. You just sit back and go, this will happen nowhere else, but at work and your coworkers, you know, you either love them or the other, the other option, but you just have so many stories.
I could write a book and I just may on my 22 years of working in the field of of medical imaging, but I love that it gives me flexibility. I like to travel. I've been to over 21 countries Yeah. And I'm, I'm not slowing down. I love to travel and this profession has allowed me. The flexibility to do that, the ability to do the things that I love, which is volunteer work.[00:33:00]
I like spending time with my family. I don't, you know, and I have the option if I want to work myself crazy, I can, but I don't want to, you know, it has those options where if I want to work 60 hours this week, I can, but then next week, I only want to work 20. Those are options that I have. And I think I've worked a lot of jobs before.
Have my own businesses and this is one to where I still can do the things that I love and still pay my bills and still have time and go to work every day where I don't feel like I'm trapped, you know,
Emily: yeah, wow. You're really selling this. Honestly,
Chaundria: yeah, I don't, I, when I hear other technologists say I'm burned out in radiology, I'm like, well, what, what are you, You got 11 plus modalities you can choose from.
It just takes you. And this is what I tell people. I remember feeling like, where am I going to go? I didn't want to go into leadership. I tried education for seven years. I realized that's not what I wanted to do. And I was like, what? What can I do? What can I do? So I decided to [00:34:00] pay for myself to go to Siemens health and ears, which is a medical Siemens medical company.
Usually the hospital pays for you to go get training on their machines. The hospitals pay cause it's a lot of money. But I said, well, I want to invest in myself. I'm not gonna, I don't work for a hospital like that for them to even pay for me. And then it's probably going to be a lot of competition because when you say you want to do something out, everybody else has a bright idea that they want to do it when they weren't interested in it until you brought it up. You know how that
goes.
So I said, well, just pay for yourself and go. That was the best thing I could have done investing in myself. And I think in any job we're in, we have to invest in ourself and just kind of go for things
because in the long run, I was able to do that for one week as Siemens. hone skills that I would have never been able to get elsewhere and then get clients from that and build my business which now I contract myself.
I've been contracting myself out for many years as a technologist, as a clinical applications technologist. [00:35:00] And so I said, so many options out here. So when I hear people say I feel burnout, it's like, you're not looking around. You got a network. You have to get to know people outside of your field.
I've, I've gotten jobs with people that had nothing to do with radiology, but they knew someone that owned their own imaging center.
And that person was looking for a reliable technologist. So they referred me.
Emily: mm hmm, mm hmm, mm
Chaundria: It is, it's something about your people skills, your quality of work and your work, work ethic that is gonna take you far.
Emily: Oh, my gosh, that's great advice. And I do think what you're getting at it too, is like being stuck is sort of uh, it's a state of mind a little bit, not always. Sometimes
Chaundria: Not always.
Emily: and you don't have choices a hundred percent, but there are, it does. Feel like and I think it's a hopeful way of thinking about it is that there are usually options.
Sometimes they're hard and you might not want to make that choice, but there's ways that you could improve, you know, especially in a [00:36:00] field like this ways that you could improve your situation. If you're willing to, like you said, invest in yourself, go out on a limb, keep, you know, networking hard. So yeah, well, that's That's really interesting and, and also a great reminder about the networking piece that you just never know where your next connection is going to come from.
Chaundria: Yeah. You get people, I get messages all the time from people saying, well, I've been at this company for this hospital for 20 years, but they won't let me cross train into another modality. Well, leave,
Emily: Yeah.
Chaundria: leave there like how many hospitals out here that that will gladly John Hopkins just put something on LinkedIn that anybody wants to learn mammography will cross train you for free.
I'm like, you know, you're not a tree. There's this saying you're not a tree move, right? And it's like you said, it's uncomfortable. It is uncomfortable to leave a job or somewhere where you've been in your. You know, everybody, everybody knows your name, right? You
know, but if you want to do better and want to make money or want a better [00:37:00] schedule, sometimes you gotta get uncomfortable.
Emily: Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. So on the other hand, is there anything that is really tough about this field, especially if it's something that you either didn't expect before you went into it or it's something that you just didn't anticipate how challenging it would be? Mm hmm.
Chaundria: The schooling I didn't expect not to be able to have a break for two years. It was very intense for two years. We do clinicals and didactic all at once, two years straight. We are never and I really didn't think, I think when I went in, I really didn't know what I was going to do. I'll be honest. I was one of those people that just thought we took pictures of bones.
I did not know you had to put in IVs. I didn't know people had allergic reactions to the stuff you injected into them. And you know, it was a lot, it was the smells, the, the schooling, it was dealing with the personalities. You have a lot of personalities. [00:38:00] of patients, other healthcare workers and your co workers, plus your own personal stuff you got going on.
There's a lot that I don't think we, we are passionate or compassionate enough about to people in general, but especially healthcare workers. We got to deal with patients who are not always nice. Because they don't feel good and some just are not nice. Co workers that sometimes are just hard to work with.
And other healthcare workers, you know, and if you're in a profession like ours, sometimes we're demeaned in healthcare. People don't consider us real healthcare workers. Oh, you guys just sit there. I've had people come to our, our, our, area and sit down and like, Ooh, I wish, I wish I, I didn't choose nursing.
I wish I chose radiology. I could sit, just sit back like you guys and deal with one patient at the time and press a button. And I'm like, did you just hear what you said? Like that was insulting.
Emily: Oh, my gosh!
Chaundria: insulting,
but yeah, but you know, people say it, I had two people say it to me last week, you know.
Yeah, [00:39:00] so I, I just nicely correct them and let them know, you know, well, I'm doing 30 people a day. You've got two patients for a 12 hour period that you're dealing with. Yeah, you might have five patients for a 12 hour period, but it doesn't mean one is more important or one is harder than the other. And, you know, we have to deal with all of that, but I would say mostly.
Depending on what your profession is dealing with, all of those things, plus when you get 19 year old people come in and they've got a life threatening disease and you know they're not gonna make it. There, there's days, I still remember my, I remember my patients. I'm the kind, I remember them. Certain ones stick deeper into my mind and you just, you know.
You know, you just can't, you just hold your dear ones closer and you appreciate a life that you have.
Emily: yeah. Oh, my gosh. I That in mind, I do find sometimes people that are in really specific fields, they have this, like, in medical fields, they have this like almost triggers of different actions because in their field they [00:40:00] constantly see people's health being challenged by these actions.
An example is like, you know, ER doctors who. Really hate trampolines, things like that, that because of their work, where they're seeing the same sorts of things over and over again, they have these things that they're like, Oh, I would never do that. Or if I see people doing it, like makes me cringe.
Is there anything that you found like that in your working life?
Chaundria: I was just driving the other day and this girl was sitting in the passenger seat with her feet up on the dashboard on her phone. I was like, Oh no, I never do that. I used to do that until I started working in radiology. I'll never, I never put my feet up on the dashboard ever again. Because if you were to have an impact, you see x rays all the time and you see Just imagine you're going to be crumpled over.
Your hips are going to be dislodged. It's, it's awful. The x rays when people have been riding like that. So that's the number one thing I wouldn't do.
Emily: Oh my gosh. Yeah, that's a good one. I will not do that [00:41:00] anymore.
Chaundria: Yeah. Don't ride with your feet on the dashboard. You guys, I'm telling you, just let your seat back and cross your legs on the floor.
Emily: I heard another one, which was, I like to sew and I was holding a sewing needle in my, I know you're like, please no. I was holding a sewing needle in my mouth and a friend was like, no, stop, because people will get surprised and inhale them, which seems so unlikely, but it apparently does happen from time to
Chaundria: It does happen a lot. Now that you say, yeah, foreign bodies, foreign bodies, just period. They could be some of the things like, how did that go down your throat? Like, I cannot even imagine how that went down your throat. It's some of the weirdest, weirdest things that happen on second shift that you see.
Emily: It's always second shift. It's never during the day that that happens.
Chaundria: Oh no, no, no. It's around between three to seven o'clock is the hot time. Yeah. 3 p. m. to 7 is our, is our ER weirdo things that [00:42:00] come through. Yeah, that's, that's definitely one putting things in your mouth, like straws. If you're not sucking on a straw, just take it out your mouth. Just. Don't walk around with forks in your mouths and things like that.
Yeah.
Emily: Oh my gosh. Okay, good. Noted. Uh, Everyone can take that down, take that home. That's your piece of advice for today. Great. So, okay, this is the last question I have for you. And then I want to leave a room at the end so people know where to find you and find out more about the work that you do.
What is one piece of advice generally about work that you would give your younger self?
Chaundria: I don't have any regrets about my career path. I will say that, but I do wish that I had been more open to cardiac MRI in particular. I was open to everything, but that one right there, I was just like, Oh, I really don't want to do this. But, and I'm not that kind of person. I would do things even if I don't want to do them.
And looking at after the pandemic was so many heart [00:43:00] issues that people started having cardiology is booming. And the amount of remote jobs that are out there for MRI technologists who have cardiac issues. MRI experience is just astronomical. And so I could have been working remotely if I
Emily: If only you had known that a pandemic was coming that was going to impact people's hearts.
Chaundria: you know, so, but I have no regrets. I honestly have no regrets. Would I have done things differently? Yes. I would have. strategically kind of put things in place a little better. I would have gotten one more modality of especially radiation therapy. I would have gotten that under my belt as well, which was the first one that I did apply for out of x ray school, but they didn't accept me.
So I moved on to CT and then MRI, which opened up a lot of doors, but I would say I would have gotten the radiation therapy.
So yeah, that's, [00:44:00] that's what I would say is really, I would have mapped out my plan a little differently to where, but hindsight is 20, 20, right? You know, but I have no regrets, but for those that are coming up, my goal is to help them to know their options.
Because when I went to school, I didn't know I had all these options. And things have opened up even more with time and technology. You know, scanners are faster. They're doing more things. Now we have PET CT along with nuclear medicine. So nuclear medicine techs can do PET as well. That was not a thing when I was starting out.
MRI was just really kind of coming up. So technology has changed a lot. So my goal is to help people to know what I didn't know, which is number one, how much you should be asking and don't always focus on the numbers. And when you don't feel like. You really like your career. Look at your other options and don't be afraid to go and say, Hey, I want to learn how to do this and don't, and if they don't give it to you, go to another hospital that will, somebody is going to train you to give you, because good [00:45:00] leaders want you to succeed and be better and to grow because that makes their organization better
Emily: Yeah.
Chaundria: hospitals that have always done it don't have a shortage that we see today.
because they weren't afraid to give their people more skills. They didn't want to hold their people down to where it's like, let me just keep you here so you, you can't go anywhere. Well, people are going places to who are going to give them what they need to make the money that they need to make and have the flexibility.
So that's what I would say is, is, Just I wish I knew really what this profession had to offer.
Emily: Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. That is a great advice. So where can people find out more about the work that you do?
Chaundria: Yes. So I am on every social media platform. I am a couple of rad texts, like a married couple, a couple of rad texts. You can find me on Tik TOK, Instagram, YouTube. I'm very, very active. A regular over there. I also have a podcast, a couple of rad texts is on all platforms. And on LinkedIn, it's just my name, [00:46:00] Shondria Singleton.
You can follow me in all of those places I do engage. And I try to give content that is educational for the everyday people. You're not going to get on there and find a bunch of science, talk about medical stuff, not me. I have regular conversations what you see is what you get. And I just like to talk like regular people would talk about if I was getting an MRI scan, what would I expect?
Or how would it be?
Emily: Yeah. Oh, my gosh. That was great. Well, thank you so much for your time. I really enjoyed this discussion.
Chaundria: Thank you for having me. I had a great time and time went by so fast.
Thanks for joining me. If you liked the show, please rate and review on iTunes and Spotify. And please share with a friend. You can also follow the podcast on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or ticktock. And if you'd like to be interviewed here or there's a particular job you'd like to learn about, [00:47:00] please reach out@realworkreallifeatgmail.com.