Day (Weekend) In The Life: Pediatric X-ray and Adult CT Tech

Come along with me for a weekend of fun as I work 20 (technically 21) of the following 27 hours! I enjoy sharing my job with each of you whether you're an aspiring radiographer, currently serving your community in the healthcare field or you're here just to hang out with us. Let me know if you have any questions and I hope to see you all soon in the next video!

[@lowkeykevv]

Been a CT tech for 14 years. But along side tons of diagnostics,I do biopsies, microwave and RF ablations, pain management injection and cardiac cta. It gets crazy. But I love it. A day of just diagnostics is like a day off.

[@SydneyPipp]

Sometimes a day of diagnostics feels like a conveyer belt of patients! It sounds like fun to have a variety of roles in your hospital.

[@savannahrose8816]

I’d recognize that pediatric work uniform any day!! So happy to see someone close to home and that works at the same hospital I do! Absolutely love it there and all the techs have been so welcoming when I was on my orientation and told them I’m starting X-ray school this fall. Seeing you guys walk around in the purple scrubs is my inspo!

[@SydneyPipp]

We need you to hurry through school and come fill some shifts, we are struggling! Haha!

[@pinkpickledcauliflower9]

Love watching these vids a medical physicist. Thanks for sharing!

[@janicehsu5487]

Thanks for sharing, I am currently a 4th semester student.

[@SydneyPipp]

Thank you for stopping by! Good luck on your Registry.. you’re in the home stretch!

[@pinkpickledcauliflower9]

Do you work for a company that dispatches you to different locations as needed or do you just have two separate jobs?

[@SydneyPipp]

I work for two separate hospitals in my area. Part time for one and PRN for the other.

[@kevin.itruth6880]

How many patients do Hospital Rad techs typically see in a day? Is there alot of physical labor in the field and if so, what kind? Is there alot of burnout in this field and what's causing it? Thanks

[@SydneyPipp]

The number of patients can vary dramatically. At my hospital I can have days where I only get like 7 patients on a slow night. Larger adult hospitals can keep you busy and you can have 30 patients or more in a day. There is a lot of walking, pushing a portable machine (with driver assist), raising your arms over your head to maneuver the X-ray tube and helping patients transfer to the X-ray table. There was a large exodus of techs during Covid so now most of the burnout would be working too much because of being short staffed. As long as you’re working with solid management there are plenty of techs that retire from this field.

[@kevin.itruth6880]

@@SydneyPipp Thanks for the quick reply Sidney, by the way love your videos talking about the field intelligently. I was reading on Reddit people saying they see 40-50 patients a day and it boggles my mind how that is even possible. Are the exams fairly quick for the most part? That's the only way I can imagine seeing that many patients on average.

[@SydneyPipp]

If techs are claiming to perform that many exams in a day then I would assume that most of the exams are portable chest X-rays which take just a few minutes and you can knock out a lot with one trip to the emergency department. Either that or they are counting the number of exams completed their entire shift by the whole department which has multiple techs working so it’s not just one person doing the 50 exams. A typical exam that is not a portable chest can be done in 10-15 minutes depending on the abilities/cooperation of your patient.

[@kevin.itruth6880]

@@SydneyPipp Again thank you so much. I look forward to your future videos, you are great at this. 🙂

[@SydneyPipp]

Thank you for your support!

[@JrRadiographerPrathapsingh]

Ct scan 128 slice is right

[@SydneyPipp]

I’ve been told this scanner is a 64 slice.

[@woodiiewoods]

Is it normal a 20 hour weekend?

[@SydneyPipp]

It can be normal depending on the facility needs. I typically only work weekends so I can work anywhere from 8 to 12 hours per shift. Techs don’t usually go from second shift at one hospital to first shift at another though.. it can get pretty exhausting.

[@mumthasriyas3993]

Can you please say is there any problem for a18 week pregnant lady entering an x ray room for her daughter's nose x ray without shield.

[@SydneyPipp]

Nose x-rays require a very small amount of X-rays because the nasal bones are thin. The likelihood of any negative effect on the baby is very low. Ideally a pregnant mother should not be in the room while X-ray is in use though.

[@mumthasriyas3993]

@@SydneyPipp thank you

[@mariema7382]

Do you offer tutoring ?

[@SydneyPipp]

I don’t offer individualized tutoring right now but if you have a specific question I can do my best to help you out.

[@mariema7382]

Hi thanks for replying i took the ARRT twice and i failed now i am stress out and have a lot of pressure to pass it the third attempt. If yoy have a recomendation for someone that can tutor . It is mainly the physics that i dont get .

[@SydneyPipp]

I am sorry that you’re in this stressful situation. I don’t have a specific tutor to recommend but I have heard of people using rad tech boot camp as a study source that helped them. They have a free trial and you can see if their physics content helps you understand the specific concepts you’re struggling with.