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Question for MRI techs… Do you need to be an x-ray tech also??

I am looking into an MRI school (seems legit). My question is if I get licensed in MRI, will that be enough to work? Or do you need to be an ARRT x-ray tech with a specialty?

Posted on July 12, 2010 at 9:49 am by radiology · Permalink
In: MRI License · Tagged with: , , , , ,

3 Responses

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  1. Written by Lissacal
    on July 12, 2010 at 9:59 am
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    You can be just a MRI tech. without being ARRT registered. But, for some employers, you will not be as valuable as a MRI and ARRT licensed employee. Many hospitals want employees who can work in multiple modalities. A tech. who can do MRI, x-ray, fluoroscopy, mammography and CT scans are valuable. They can cover all aspects of the imaging department when other techs are out sick, on vacation, or just when the department is very busy.

    The only MRI tech I have worked with who was not a RT was a licensed Nuclear Medicine Technologist. Again, he was valuable because he could work in two different areas. Best wishes to you…..

  2. Written by chipdeutsch
    on July 12, 2010 at 10:19 am
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    Magnetic Resonance has anything to do with X-rays, it works on the basis of an alignment of the atomic particles of your body (mostly hydrogen of water molecules) by an intense magnetic field. Then there is a radiofrecuency used to make the atoms to resonate and then measuring the settle down times. The thing that you measure is the radiofrecuency of the atoms coming back to its initial state.
    The x-rays work exactly like a taking a picture, you “illuminate” the body with x-ray radiation and you put a plaque behind, whether it can be a photographic plaque, a reusable plaque or a detector to show the image on a screen. The only thing you have to take care is the intensity of the x-ray field, controlling the current or the voltage of the source.
    As you can see, if you know how to use one, you don’t have any idea of the other, so you should need a license for each one of them.
    I know it because i am a biomedical engineer and i’ve been working on hospitals for some time, so i shouldn’t give an x-ray tech an MRI machine or visceversa…

  3. Written by dakaster
    on July 12, 2010 at 10:36 am
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    I have been an MRI Tech for over 18 years. I am a licensed MRI Tech with the ARRT. In order to sit for the board exam, among other requirements, you must be currently certified in Radiography (ARRT) or Radiation Therapy (ARRT) or Nuclear Medicine Technology (ARRT or NMTCB) or Sonography (ARRT or ARDMS) or be registry eligible in one of these modalities. In the early days of MRI (late1980’s and early 1990’s) employers would try to keep costs down by hiring unqualified people to train on their scanners. This led to a lot of problems with safety and quality control. Since then the ARRT has developed advanced licensing for MRI which is almost always required by today’s employers.

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