MRI Technologist Salary
An MRI technician salary is many times influenced by economic factors and geographic factors. Each and every MRI technician will get a higher salary by having some years of experience. In the US, an annual MRI technician salary will reach about $57,928. The average salary for one of these professionals who work in a hospital will get to be estimated between $26,075 and up to $74,246 per year.
The private system will pay an MRI technician with an average salary that will be estimated in between $10,142 and $66,216 per year. As a part of the actual income, an MRI technician will receive an annual bonus that ranges from $100 and up to $2,047 per year.
An MRI technologist salary in the private practice is estimated to range between $50,920 and $65,035 per year. Those who got employed for a non-profit organization will receive a salary estimated at about $47,506 and going up to $77,506.
Each state will influence your career and working as an MRI technician will get you to various settings as well as having various earnings. For instance those who work in Florida as MRI technicians will earn a salary that will range between $47,676 and up to $62,406 while those who work in California will get an earning that ranges from $44,764 and up to $78,616. These states are on the list of those that pay the most in this career.
Salary of an MRI Technician in 2015
Many of the demonstrated surveys show that this career path offers a good start and the job stability that one will ever need. Earnings are good, and your future working as an MRI technician will offer you best future perspectives.
There is also a growing demand for the professionals who work as MRI technicians and for their services since their contribution to each and every medical heath care facility whether it’s online or offline is vital and essential.
For the year 2015, an MRI technician has to have as a minimum requirement an associate’s degree. The more skills you have, the more you can actually expect to a higher salary to go in your pockets starting with 2015.
Every year there is a growth in the number of the aging population and the needs for an MRI is more and more needed. In 2014, the median wage salary of an MRI technician in the US was estimated at $54,342. Starting with 2015 and during the next ten years or more you can expect a growth, this depending on the factors that will influence one’s professional salary.
MRI Technician Salary in 2016
For the year 2016, in the US, the income of an MRI technician is influenced and determined by several factors such as the years of experience in the field, the specific type of employment, company size, industry as well as the geographical location. The average median income for these professionals is estimated to reach up at $57,810 per year, with a starting point that ranges from $39,853 per year and up to $81,110 per year or even higher. According to some of the salary data surveys, provided by PayScale, it seems that in this field a vast majority of professionals working as MRI technicians are women rather than men.
The differences in the salaries of MRI technicians can be spotted according to each state and each region due to two main factors. The first one that impacts these earnings is the costs of living that is various and different according to each area, followed by the living expenses. In this field, the consisted bonuses can climb up to $1,918 while the profit sharing that is granted usually reaches at $2,010 this leading in the end to a total payment that is estimated to be comprised from $44,439 and up to $81,510.
The years of experience don’t have that huge impact on these professionals’ salaries, but they do affect it. For instance, an entry-level MRI technician, with less than 5 years of practice can expect to take home around $52,010 per year, while one individual with 5 and up to 10 years of experience can expect to gain around $60,010 per year. An experienced professional with 10 and up to 20 years of work and with higher experience will earn a salary that is estimated to reach at $66,010 per year. The veterans in this field, with more than 20 years of work activity and with plenty of experience on their hand, will take home around 68,010 per year.
MRI technician salary also varies according to the specific type of employment as mentioned earlier, since those that are working in the area of a hospital have a different income than those who work in a private Physician office, where usually the earnings tend to be higher.
MRI Technician Salary in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom
- In Canada, an MRI technician salary will be estimated to go around C$61,228 per year. Like in any other country there are well-paid hourly averages and low-paid hourly averages. For instance in Calgary and Edmonton, the median hourly wages are estimated at about $36.00 per hour. In Montreal or Quebec, the median hourly wage is estimated at $27.48 per hour.
- In Australia, an MRI technician salary is estimated according to be early mentioned factors, and it will range between AU$70,000 and up to AU$90,000 per year. The average hourly wage for someone working in this profession will range from $42 and up to $52 per hour.
- In UK, the salary for a professional like this will reach at £32,000 per year. If you’ll work as a senior, and then according to your years of experience, formed skills and experience you’ll earn a salary that will range from £24,000 to £34,000. The salary is set according to the area, the setting, and the geographical location. For instance, if your work in Central London then your salary will be estimated at an hourly wage comprised between £27.00 and up to £34.00 per hour. This hourly wage will depend according to each location and the setting in which you are going to work. In Liverpool, for instance, the hourly wage is estimated to go between £25.00 and up to £32.00 per hour.
MRI Tech Career
What is an MRI Technician?
The magnetic resonance imaging equipment that will be used by MRI technicians provides the imaging examinations. These experts need a detailed high definition two-dimensional picture or even three-dimensional one in order to study a patient’s brain, heart, or muscles or even various types of cancer located inside of the body.
Job description of the MRI Technician
An MRI technician is a qualified professional that is trained to discover the internal medical conditions that can be various and even multiple based on the anatomy. Their knowledge and education will allow the MRI Technician to create pictures that have a great quality and contrast. Every anatomical internal finding will appear in the radiology. Then, the MRI Technician will establish the proper medical condition, the diagnosis and he, or she will create a detailed MRI report that will help treating the patient. An MRI does not affect the cells in a patient body not to mention those vulnerable parts of one’s patient DNA.
An MRI technician works along other professional and specialists such as radiologists or even physicians. They will conduct under the advice of a physician the MRI reports and all the required procedures. In addition, an MRI technician will teach everything required to the patients, for the MRI safety procedure for a better functionality of the exam. After the completion of the study, they will consult with the radiologist for examining the images.
Their duty in this field of career is to choose the appropriate parameters for the imaging, adjusting the MRI equipment, the machine that the MRI Technician will use. They will also establish the best position of the patient for the MRI procedures. With other words, their main job tasks will include working with people coming from various cultures and environments, so they will need some communication skills developed as well.
An MRI machine will assume that the patient can lie down and stay put in a narrow tube for approximately 30 or 40 minutes according to the procedure. In some cases, this could lead to panic attacks, claustrophobia or even anxiety so an MRI technician will have to guide the patient into a calm state and support him or her during the whole procedure.
How to become an MRI Technician?
In order to become an MRI technician, it will be suitable to search for the training programs that will allow you to develop in magnetic resonance imaging. You’ll know that you have a lot of options to go by, and you can encounter them in private universities, colleges, even public facilities such as hospitals. Most of them will include the possibility to get a certificate, an associate degree and a bachelor’s degree.
If you already have an education and experience in radiology, you can choose from a variety of shorter programs. If you follow a certain career goal, then you should be able to research the type of program that you want. Then, it is easy to enroll, once you found it. Every program will depend on your financial situation and the goals you proposed to follow by choosing this career path.
If you want to pursuit for a bachelor’s degree, the process of completing it might be longer, but a lot of management opportunities and options come later. In order to pursue your dream make sure that the program you enrolled in has accreditation from the ARRT, also known as the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists. Alternatively, any agency accredited by ARRT will work. You could also follow a fully accredited program. In this case, it must have accreditation from the Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology.
Before enrolling in a training program, you need to make sure that you fulfill every requirement. Some training programs have a list of courses that were already required studying in high school such as science; this will include chemistry and biology classes, physics and math. If you took some of these subjects and by now they have expired, or if you didn’t take them in high school, you need something else. If that is your case, you should probably find a community college or a university that will allow you to follow them and only then complete all the applications for the training program you want to pursue.
To be an MRI technician, a student must fulfill the accredited program’s complete clinical rotation at one of the facilities assigned by the school or institution such as having his or her practice in a hospital. The student must be able to complete an established number of hours, 1000 hours to be exact of hands-on training how to be an MRI Technician. At the same time, the student will have to fulfill the requirements needed for the ARRT.
The job of an MRI technician involves in many occasions heavy lifting when they have to turn or move the patients. Additionally, working as an MRI Technician will assume you’ll have to work on your feet all day. The best option to overcome muscle soreness or physical burnout is a routine of exercises that will help you stay fit for this job and will adjust the flow in your body.
A heads up when applying for an MRI technician job is for the employer to find in your resume an MRI technician certificate. Getting a certificate is optional but it will give you a great start when applying for a job. The certification can be obtained through the ARMRIT also known as the American Registry of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technologists.
You can also create an account and login at ARMRIT. Then you can submit to their registry your resume and the CV information. The registry can be used only by those candidates that already have a certification. Every individual member must enter his work and his education and updated.
Each state has its license requirements, before getting your license find out in which state you will want to work and then make sure to fulfill them all to get the right to practice in this career. You might have to take the exam and some hours of practice in which you’ll gain the necessary experience in the field of MRI Technicians.
Educational requirements are important as well so make sure to pursue the ARRT certification in which you’ll have to get 24 hours of continuous education on a length of 2 years. If you want to advance in your career, then you can consider pursuing some additional training options. With additional training, you get higher jobs and a greater salary as well, for a position such as a supervisor, head of department, specialist.
Work environment and schedule
The MRI technician job is on high demand, and you get the opportunity to work in a variety of settings. According to each state, make sure that you’ll check out first the necessary job information for finding a job that will suit you the most.
You could work in hospitals, doctor’s offices, private practices, clinics not to mention imaging centers or even specialty radiology. Most of these specialist work on a full-time base and their schedule can be very crowded this involving overnight, and shifts in weekends and even holidays.
Pros and Cons of being an MRI Technician
Every job has its pros and cons, and an MRI technician job is not one without any of them. The pros for working as an MRI technician involves working for establishing how to be able to provide each patient with a good answer for his or her internal condition.
To aid a patient in his diagnostic is the best reward an MRI technician could get. You’ll get to work in various areas of a hospital not only in one, and you’ll be able to help people in their needs and people who have to deal with various conditions.
You get a lot of career opportunities as you start to work in this field, and you’ll get plenty of interaction with the patients, building up relations with them and becoming close to them.
The cons are that working with people, especially with patients that are in a lot of pain, can be many times difficult and exhausting. You’ll get bad reactions in some cases, or you’ll have to deal with the negative attitudes of many specialists or even patients.
Your work also involves handling and learning fast how to handle new equipment or MRI machines. Even with the best safety measures on some parts you might be the main subject to radiations and being exposed to them, is not a good or constructive way for your body health.
Knowing that you helped others while in severe medical conditions is a huge reward for you, and for the patients as well. Patients who come to you always want to get better and live a healthy life.
MRI Technician job growth
For the succeeding five to ten years, the employment growth for an MRI technician is predicted with 24% rate of increase, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This increase is mainly due to the number of demanding that is recorded to be faster than the average, and it is also due to the nature of the job itself. With a continuous growth in the aging population and not only, an estimated increase is also revealed in the MRI procedures. There are always patients that need the aid and the intervention of these professionals.
Another factor that affects a rise in the number of demanding is the MRI equipment that is becoming less expensive. This will lead it to be a more common method and component in the treatment of various medical conditions. The future outlook for MRI technicians is excellent, these professionals having a variety of working sites where to choose from. They could find work in private physician’s offices, or be hired by hospitals, or even work in diagnostic imaging centers.
Conclusion on an MRI Technician Salary
An MRI technician job is on high demand due to the number of aging population that seems to grow one year after the year and also to the people that are in need for these professionals services.
For an MRI technician craving to advance in this career path, there is always an opportunity to do so and earn a lot more with the years of experience that gathered throughout the work. You’ll get plenty of the opportunities once you’ve started to work as an MRI technician. People will always be very thankful for having the right impact in their lives to get better and to start living in a healthy way.
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- First Published Date: 29 December, 2014
- Last Updated Date: 9 November, 2016