Career Pathways in Radiology: Charting Your Course for Success

Career Pathways in Radiology: Charting Your Course for Success

On this episode of A Couple of Rad Techs Podcast, we dive into the world of radiology and medical imaging and its various modalities. Our speaker shares her experience working in cancer research and details the importance of staying up to date with the latest advancements in the field. We discuss the benefit of being certified in multiple modalities and how flexibility is key to job growth.

Additionally, we touch on the importance of patient care and explain why it is crucial for medical professionals to explain procedures and answer any questions patients may have to ease their concerns.

Join us as we explore the many career pathways available in the imaging profession and hear firsthand tips and tricks from our speaker on becoming a multi modality technologist and pivoting with your radiology license without attending a radiology school.

Meet Nicole, a dedicated medical professional in the imaging field. She understands that there are various paths to becoming an imaging specialist, making it the third largest medical profession in the country. Nicole is particularly fond of nuclear medicine, but she also pursued a primary pathway to enter the world of imaging. Her passion for working with different modalities and helping patients continues to drive her every day.

Transcript

[00:00:40] Nicole: how I started in nuclear medicine was I was going to college and I was doing my bachelor's in biochem, and I was in my second year or third year, and I realized, mm, I don't know if I, you know, wanted to do biochem. So I kind of ended up doing a double major in biology and chemistry and I was, you know, I kind of did okay.

[00:00:59] Nicole: I, you [00:01:00] know, I graduated and, you know, I was like, okay, I'm, you know, what's the next step to take my mcat? So I took my mcat. And I didn't do as well as I would've liked, you know, and I probably, probably could have took it again, but I just, the passion wasn't there. You know, the passion wasn't there for me to be a doctor.

[00:01:13] Nicole: I just didn't, I didn't think that was what I wanted. And I decided, okay, you know what? Well, what else is there, there? I know there are so many jobs in the healthcare, right? And that's what a lot of people don't realize too. There are so many different jobs in healthcare. So I decided, okay, let's go to.

[00:01:27] Nicole: I had a family friend who lived in Missouri who was a doctor at a hospital and, and my mom reached out to them and said, Hey, you know, she kind of wants to do radiology. Would you she be able to go there and kind of job shadow? And I did that. I went there and I job shadowed an MRI job, shadow and ultrasound and job shadowed in ct.

[00:01:45] Nicole: And then when I got to nuclear medicine, I was like, wow, this is cool. This is like, we get to look at like the function of organs. We get to work with radio tracers and. It just kind of blew me away and I was like, this is what I wanna do. I wanna go to school to be [00:02:00] a nuclear medicine technologist.

[00:02:01] Nicole: And I started researching about it, found that there was a program in at the University of Missouri. I applied there and then I applied to a college in Florida Barry University. University of Missouri gave me a, a scholarship, like a slight scholarship.

[00:02:17] Nicole: And when I looked at the pricing, I was like, university of Missouri was a lot cheaper. So, and I spoke to the program director and I did an interview and, you know, I was like, you know what, this is where I really wanna be. So then I, I got in and I started there and I did my second bachelor's in nuclear medicine.

[00:02:33] Nicole: And that's how I started

[00:02:34] Chaundria: Oh wow.

[00:02:35] Chaundria: Well, that's nice because now you're talking about something different because most people think, everyone who's in imaging goes to X-ray school, but that's what we're talking about today. There are different pathways to reach the imaging profession, and I love that. That's what makes us the third largest medical profession in the nation, is that we encompass so many different pathways to imaging.

[00:02:57] Chaundria: We have so many different ways of doing it, [00:03:00] so many different modalities and nuclear medicine is. One of my favorite as well. I love nuclear medicine, but we're talking about a primary pathway and can you explain a little bit in detail kind of just for the average person or those new technologists maybe people out there in school that don't really understand what a primary pathway is, how did you use that avenue?

[00:03:19] Nicole: So the primary pathway is like basically you go to school for that specific profession. So you don't really have to go through x-ray and do that schooling, become X-ray certified, and then go back to school. Or do some kind of continued education to then be certified in something else. Nuclear medicine is a primary pathway.

[00:03:42] Nicole: Ultrasound is a primary pathway and then now MRI is a primary pathway as well. So a lot of these professions kind of broke off cuz they realize, you know, hey, we can go directly into training these because they're so different compared to x-ray. And so that's what I did Now, [00:04:00] I have my MRI and my CT certification, and I did that through secondary pathway where I did

[00:04:06] Chaundria: So we'll talk about that.

[00:04:08] Nicole: Yeah.

[00:04:09] Chaundria: Yeah, we'll talk about that. So when you talk about primary pathway is there something you have to have? Can anybody just say, I'm gonna go to school to be a nuclear medicine tech. You already had a bachelor's. What, what kind of things do people need to know before they say, I want to jump out here and do a primary pathway for nuclear medicine or radiation therapy or M r I.

[00:04:27] Nicole: I think the thing that you should do is job shadow actually. You know, find a way that you can maybe volunteer or find out, you know, connecting with other ra you know, nuclear medicine technologists or whatever field is that you're interested in and say, Hey, can I come and, you know, in your, the department and kind of job shadow and just see what the profession's about.

[00:04:48] Nicole: Cause I think that's really important that you understand. The pros and the cons with the profession because with everything there's pros and cons. And I think that's what I did too. I, that's how I decided on [00:05:00] nuclear medicine as well. Cuz I just felt like, you know, for me I was really interested in it and I, and I realized the cons of it, right?

[00:05:07] Nicole: Being exposed to radiation and to me I was like, well, you know, I realized that There's ways to prevent that, right. You know, time, distance, shielding, there's things that you can learn versus other things. But I felt like, okay, but I have the passion for it. And I think that's an important thing that you, you actually have the passion.

[00:05:26] Nicole: You like what you do, and not doing it just because it's a job,

[00:05:29] Chaundria: Right. Yeah. I mean, that's one, one of the important things is, I love that you said the pros and the cons because yeah, nuclear medicine techs make great money. Imaging in, in general makes really good money, but you, you have to love it. You do have to have some type of passion, and it takes some brain knowledge too.

[00:05:46] Chaundria: I mean, you know, new med school is not easy. Any, none of these schools are easy. But you're coming with the I think you said a biochemistry background. You know, you, you were headed the doctor path. So most average people aren't, you know, [00:06:00] maybe, you know, going to Doctor Path, but that is just, it shows the level of education that you, you, you def you do have to have, we're just not there pushing buttons.

[00:06:09] Chaundria: You're dealing with radio isotopes. I mean, this. That's major. So kind of tell us, you talked a little bit about your secondary pathways, so I love that because I'm a CT and MRI technologist as well. And how did you go into from nuclear medicine to the secondary pathway of mri, ct and then in which order?

[00:06:27] Nicole: So the reason why I decided e to even cross train in order to learn these secondary pathways was cuz I attended a meeting and which I think is. Very important for people to attend meetings, to kind of stay abreast in what's going on in our field. And I saw a talk on PET mri and I was like, wow, look at that.

[00:06:48] Nicole: Let's, so, you know, look at what they're doing. Look at the imaging that they're doing. Look on all of the things that they're able to do for these patients. The research, you know, the cancer imaging that they're doing. And I was like, you know, I wanna do that. [00:07:00] Like, it just looked amazing to me, you know, and the fact that. It was so new because this was probably like 10 years ago and I was like, You know, only, I think probably about three or four places in the world had a pet MRI machine. And I was like, okay, I wanna do that. How do I do it? You know, they started researching like, how do I get into this? And, and in the mail, I got this like a mailing and it said, you know, if you wanna be certified in mri, and I guess, you know, they looked at, they probably got information from.

[00:07:28] Nicole: Nuclear medicine technologists and x-ray people who are registered and they mail out all of these information. So I got this mailing about, oh, come to you. Can, you know, do didactic tra learning and then do your clinicals. At a place, a program, and I researched it and I looked into it and I was like, okay, this is good.

[00:07:46] Nicole: I can do this within like six months, you know? And it was very affordable. It was also on the weekends mostly like the learning part. And so I was like, okay, something I can do, you know, so that I can achieve this goal that I wanna [00:08:00] achieve. When I started actually, I was like, okay, let me do CT first, because pet CT was out and about and you know, it wasn't as popular it is now, but back then it was still, you know, prominent.

[00:08:13] Nicole: So I said, okay, I'm gonna do CT first. So when I started the program the on the director was like, oh in Florida, cause I was in Florida at the time. They're like, oh, you are something to do with the license. They were allowing us to mod, like nuclear medicine technologists were being allowed to modify their license, but it wasn't like completely finalized or something like that.

[00:08:35] Nicole: So he said to me, well, in the meantime, while they're trying to finish this up, it should be writing a couple weeks. He's like, you need to wait a couple weeks and see if everything happens. Or do you wanna start M r I? then after you're done, then you can switch over to ct. So I said, yeah, sure. You know, so I did that and I became MRI certified, and then I started working in M R I in the nights, in the evenings.

[00:08:58] Nicole: And then after [00:09:00] about six months of doing that, then I started the CT class and I completed the CT class. And then I started working in ct. And then I became like an all around tech, you know, because at the time too, The job market was really rough, you know, especially in Florida. It was hard for a nuclear medicine technologist.

[00:09:18] Nicole: You know, there weren't not many jobs and so I was like, you know, I wanna make myself more marketable. I wanna be able to, do all kinds of stuff like, say, be a well-rounded person. So I, MRI night, got my experience. And then eventually I moved to days, and then I got my CT license. And so I just made myself available.

[00:09:37] Nicole: Do you need me in ct? I'm in in ct. Do you need me an mri? I'm an mri. If you need me in Nucs, I'm in Nucs. I became that multi-modality tech. In that place. It was great for them cuz it was a smaller imaging center in, in Florida. They really valued that, they valued a multi modality person cuz it, it helped them out and it helped me out because I got my experience as well.

[00:09:56] Chaundria: Yeah, I think you make a very valid point [00:10:00] because. What some people miss is that in order to be well-rounded in this profession, you've gotta be flexible. You gotta be willing to say, Hey, you need this. I'm I I'll, even if I don't know it, I'll learn it. If you wanna teach me, I'll learn it. You know, there was, I remember early on in my career when I first started out in ct, I went straight from x-ray school into ct.

[00:10:20] Chaundria: And I had to take the junk shift, you know, and, and other people were like, oh no, I gotta, I gotta I, but I knew I wanted to do beyond x-ray, so that meant pro, you know, having to take that second shift job and it only be PRN versus a guaranteed x-ray full-time position, probably seven to three 30 or three twelves.

[00:10:40] Chaundria: Yeah, that would've been comfortable. But where would my growth have come from there? You know, and that's what I was looking, I was thinking beyond the future, how to make myself more marketable. And I love that you said all of those things to those that are listening on this podcast. If you are in school for radiology or imaging, one of the forms of imaging really, [00:11:00] really rewind and listen to what Nicole just said, because facilities that you're at, or maybe ones that you know of, might be in need of.

[00:11:09] Chaundria: MRI tech and they've tried people that are seasoned and they just can't get anybody. They probably would say, you know what? This person at least can scan a brain. This person is at least registered. They can at least scan brain spines. We could teach 'em the rest, we can teach 'em our way. You know how to do it, and that'll give you experience.

[00:11:26] Chaundria: So maybe you don't come in with the best shift. Maybe you don't come in with the top money when you first get in, but what you get later on is. A triple modality or quadruple modality, certified registered technologist who can now command more money, command, you know, the shifts that they want and even do other things that make you more flexible.

[00:11:46] Chaundria: And that's what Nicole, I really love that you brought that point out, is that you were like, you know what? You need that. I can do that. You know, or I'm willing to learn how to do that. And I. I think more people should really like rewind and listen to that. And really that's how [00:12:00] you're gonna become where you want to go.

[00:12:01] Chaundria: That even serves you for leadership. And I know we talked before about, you know, your goals as far as where you wanna go with your career and all the things that you are doing sets you up for those leadership roles. Right. You know when it comes to new med, so you said you were in Florida. The laws are a little different.

[00:12:19] Chaundria: State, the state, you know in in here, cuz we are in the US we have some states that are licensure, some that are not. Some have a limited license when it comes to radiation and radiology, so each state is different. What did you find being in Florida and becoming a triple modality technologist and now you've relocated to another state?

[00:12:36] Chaundria: How did that change your, your, or make you more flexible? I would say it didn't change cuz you still are killing it with the modalities and doing what you do. But how did that make you kind of have to pivot?

[00:12:48] Nicole: So coming to California I realized that I was not able to do CT as a standalone text, so that made me realize, okay, well I. The jobs had narrowed a [00:13:00] little bit for me because I could, you know, I could do MRI because MRI's not state regulated right now. But nuclear medicine is so in order for me to do sta be a standalone CT tech, if I wanted to have like a PR and CT job, I would've had to have gone to X-ray school.

[00:13:16] Nicole: So I would have to have my X-ray license and then I can do ct, but I can do PET ct because that's under our scope of practice. Right. Because I have my CT license. So I think in that sense that was the only difference really for me. Because like I said, I already have my cerm MRI certification.

[00:13:34] Nicole: I think it would be different if I didn't have my MRI certification, then I would've probably been like, okay, it would've been a lot harder because we also, I think some people maybe not know or, I know this is also a really. Popular question with people trying to get into M R I or are just graduating.

[00:13:50] Nicole: They're like, I, cuz I used to be an MRI clinical coordinator as well. They would ask me, you know, is there a difference between ARRT and ASMIRT, [00:14:00] which the other certification, which I have both. And I said to them, you know, honestly, there's no difference. It's just that ARRT is a little bit more popular, it's more well, well known.

[00:14:10] Nicole: But they both require certification. Some hospitals require ARRT certification, but I do think that that's changing now. I do think, yeah, I think they're realizing that, you know, it's not really just ARRT, there is ASMIRT as well. So I've seen when I was a clinical coordinator that some hospitals have modified their job postings or their job descriptions to include ASMIRT.

[00:14:35] Nicole: Now there's still some hospitals out here in California where they require the MRI techs to have their RT certification. Now, that I don't think is fair cuz I don't think MRI and ct, I mean MRI and X-ray have anything in common. So we're hoping that that would change as an MRI tech cuz I don't think that that's needed.

[00:14:56] Nicole: Because especially how MRI is its own primary pathway now too.

[00:14:59] Chaundria: [00:15:00] Yeah, I think one thing about on the East coast where I'm at, I remember when ASMIRT came and a lot of techs were trying to move to the East coast with it, but a lot of hospitals only took ARRT. I do find a job descriptions are changing more. The hospitals are opening up more to it out this way. I don't think they're, as long as you're certified.

[00:15:18] Chaundria: I will say this if I was, I do see the benefit of them requiring it because such a shortage. It will make the techs more flexible. I, that's, that's the only way, because when I work out in California, so they used to require me to have an X-ray fluoroscopy license, and I'm like, I don't even do, you know, like I'm not

[00:15:36] Nicole: Right.

[00:15:36] Chaundria: ionizer radiation, so it didn't, but I went on and got it anyway.

[00:15:40] Chaundria: You know, Hey, that's what they require. I got it. But I will say after working in different places around the US, I can see how facilities do want you to have a x-ray background, because if somebody calls out, they got a tech over there, Hey, I need you to come up from mri. You can at least shoot chest. You can at least, you know, [00:16:00] shoot a foot.

[00:16:00] Chaundria: I mean, I could at least do that. I haven't done x-ray in 20 something years. I cannot do the major stuff unless I pull out a Merrill's book, but at least they have a body there that if somebody needed something you know or needed to fill in. I could see how that's beneficial, especially at smaller hospitals.

[00:16:17] Chaundria: Like if you're out, say Wyoming, you know, somewhere.

[00:16:19] Nicole: Yeah.

[00:16:20] Chaundria: well you've got, I work in a big city, so, but in, in the smaller places where they literally have like one or two techs that do everything, I'm like, wow, I've never been in a place that like, you know, so I could kind of, I've never seen that. But once I got exposed to it, I was like, well, I, I do see why they would require you to have a X-ray background, because they just can't have somebody there that can only do one thing.

[00:16:42] Chaundria: So in that sense, yeah. But a full, big hospital, yeah, you got plenty of people that you know could cover, but you know that that's, that's the only reason why I could see. That they would require a x-ray background. It kind of saves them in a pinch and make their dollar stretch too. I mean, you, you got several techs that can [00:17:00] kind of float and do everything.

[00:17:01] Chaundria: So if somebody's on call, so I do see that much, but MRI is its own pathway and maybe things will change. But you know, In the future because they are seeing a more increase in that as a primary pathway. So let me ask you, as far as your transition to Florida, to California, cause I think that's important.

[00:17:18] Chaundria: People need to understand that when you do the primary pathways, Which a lot of people don't understand. Even technologists don't really understand it. You could read up on it in the a r t, but a lot don't really understand when you move from state to state, what you may do in one state is not gonna be okay in another state.

[00:17:34] Chaundria: So before you make your move, you know, try to figure out is this a. Positive move for me with radiology. So I think sharing your story kind of opened up my eyes, you know, to, hey, some states have license, some don't. So, you know, some have limited scope practices, some don't. So that's really important that people, you know, cuz you wanna be able to move, you've been doing this forever.

[00:17:56] Chaundria: You wanna be able to move wherever you wanna move and still have a job. But you [00:18:00] have also shown the importance of having multiple modalities because when you made that change, it wasn't like you were. Nothing stopped you. You still had two other modalities to, Hey, I'm good with two other ones. So that, that's been a lifesaver for me as well.

[00:18:13] Chaundria: You know, sometimes the job market is low in ct. Well, I know how to do mri, you know, I know how to do mammo. I know how to do X-ray being multimodality. I couldn't stress that more. And I think you're just driving, driving home. The point of whether you choose something as your primary pathway or not. Have the flexibility of being able to pivot in the job market by being certified in as many as you can and actually know how to do them.

[00:18:38] Chaundria: Cuz that's the thing I think you said too. You know how to do them. You're just not on paper certified, you. You could jump in and do 'em all. So that's huge. And you took advantage of an opportunity and it really shows you know, that you do love the, love the radiology industry, and you are really, you know, just doing it.

[00:18:56] Chaundria: I mean, I don't think I've met anybody who's done a [00:19:00] pathway like that. I mean, I just, I'm so impressed and just enjoyed this conversation. I know our audience will as well. 

[00:19:05] Chaundria: Now I gotta ask you, how are your IV skills, since you do all the modalities that require putting in IVs,

[00:19:11] Nicole: So honestly I think my eye vehicles are pretty good now. The only thing is that I notice. Like, if I go from facility to facility and the, the, the equipment is a little bit different, it takes me some time to get used to it, right? So that I struggle with at the beginning, like, you know, just the, quite the little bit of technique here and there.

[00:19:31] Nicole: But once I get it, I'm, I'm good, you know. And then also I'm in like where I'm right now, we have a lot of. Really cool gadgets, right? So we have like the really nice IV finders and so that's really helpful, especially where I work for a cancer center. So we have really hard sticks sometimes, you know, so it's just like it that helps.

[00:19:53] Nicole: And then just like the little tips and tricks, you know, like as I've worked in the field for many years that you pick up along the way [00:20:00] from different people, you know, like hot packs and. Warm towels and using a blood pressure cuff. I've used a blood pressure cuff instead of a tourniquet before because I just couldn't, you know, get the pressure enough on the patient's arms.

[00:20:13] Nicole: So, you know, having them lay down or, you know, just the little things were, I. If the patient comes to you and says you know, I passed out before on my iv. I said, okay, all right, let's lay you, lay you down right now. Cause you know, you know, if anything happens, you're already laying down. We're not, you know, passing out on you.

[00:20:31] Nicole: So, and, and that's these little things and I think it's a great thing that you bring that up because. One of the things I was talking to, cuz we have students at my center too and I love working with students. I love working with students because I think I love seeing them kind of coming in and you trying to kind of help them get to the career that they wanna be because I think it's really important that we build these new people coming into the profession to make it only stronger.

[00:20:57] Nicole: Right. So one of the things I always tell the [00:21:00] students is that always be teachable. I have doing, doing this for 12 years or 13 years, and to this day, every day I'm teachable. I don't know everything. Nobody knows everything. So sometimes they'll come in and they'll like, oh, I heard this in class. And I'm like, really?

[00:21:15] Nicole: And they teach me something and I'm telling them like, always be teachable. Like that's, I think also something that makes you a better person, a better tech in general.

[00:21:25] Chaundria: Yeah, I totally agree. I, I enjoy working with students and I, I loved, I always believe that there's more than one way to do things in life, period. But especially in the imaging world. I mean, we've all had that teacher that if you don't click the mouse with your index finger, it's wrong. It's like, what didn't matter?

[00:21:43] Nicole: Or they come and they adjust that slice, just one.

[00:21:48] Chaundria: And when I work with those students who work with texts like that, they're like, is this okay? I'm like, do you have L one through five in there? As long as you got up to S one and L 12, T 12, you're good. I, but is [00:22:00] it si It's fine as long as you didn't clip anything. It's fine. I'm not, it's not that serious.

[00:22:05] Chaundria: I, I mean, I'm, I will maybe move it, but that's, it's not gonna make a, make a difference. Don't get caught up. And I, I try to put people at ease, but it's, I love working with students and helping people to show. I like, I like to show them. A way of doing it. So then they can take each person that they work with and say, okay, I'll pull this from her.

[00:22:25] Chaundria: I'll leave that over there with him. I'll pull this from her, and then I'll do my own thing with all of those things. So yeah, I love working with students. And like you say, you always, I see them do stuff and I'm like, oh, especially if you're working on certain machines. Like for me, when I work on Siemens MRI machines or C CT machines, there's like three different ways to do one thing.

[00:22:42] Chaundria: And when a student or someone comes in and they've been, I maybe I find the scout localizer one way and they find it another, I'm like, oh, that's how you do it. Oh, okay. If somebody has their own way to do it, I'm like, ah, now I know a new way to do it. Now I'm still gonna do it my way because that's what I'm used to.

[00:22:59] Chaundria: [00:23:00] But hey, I just learned something and you, you, you always learned something working with people and that is the benefit of working with others too. But IV skills. Yeah. I used to work at a cancer center. We never had those IV finders until I got interventional and I'm like, wow, you guys have the good stuff in here.

[00:23:15] Nicole: Yeah, it's a lifesaver sometimes. And, and there's, you know what, there's two peop, there's two different type of texts. There's texts that are like, no, I don't use that at all. Like, they don't believe in it. I have some that, but they're good, you know? But for me, I. If I have a really hard person and I'll go get that IV finder and I use it as like a confirmation as in like, I think I see it, I can feel it, but just in case I need, like if it moves, I'll have, I have it right there.

[00:23:45] Nicole: And I, I would tell you it has helped me tremendously on those people that are just really Heart six because we have patients that. They just, it's just hard. It's so difficult. You know, they'll come and they'll be like, yeah, I'm just really hard. The last time I was here, they tried me five [00:24:00] times, you know, and, and, and just, it's just hard.

[00:24:03] Nicole: And those things just help.

[00:24:04] Chaundria: Some days it's not my day. And I'm pretty good with doing IVs, but some days I'm like, you know what? I don't feel a thing. I don't see a thing. I'm just going to go get somebody else. I'm not even gonna try to stick you.

[00:24:16] Nicole: And that's okay. That's the thing too. I always tell the students that is okay. Like if you are just having an off day, you are having an off day and you know, thankfully you're in a, you might hopefully be in a place that you're not the only one. Now there's been place, I've worked in places where there ain't nobody else.

[00:24:32] Nicole: It's you or nobody. So you gotta, you know, and I always make sure the patient's okay. Like, are you okay? Like, are, do you want, like, do you want me to continue trying most of the time? I will tell you, they already know that they're heart sick and they said, I'm fine. Like don't worry about it. You know, keep going.

[00:24:50] Nicole: Cause I know I really have to have this test done. And then sometimes I'll tell the patient, you know, cause the day before I'll say, Hey, make sure you drink a lot of water before you [00:25:00] come in here the next time, the day before. Don't wait till the morning of the day before. It just makes a huge difference.

[00:25:06] Chaundria: Yeah. Yeah. I Now I do wanna ask this because you do three modalities. And you have different type of machines. I know just for me doing CT and Mr. Those two. And I work on every last machine that there is that does CT and R. And when sometimes if I haven't worked on GE in a while, I sit down and I'm trying to do the same thing I do on Siemens and I'm like, wait, that's not how I scroll through images on ge.

[00:25:29] Chaundria: You know, that's not how I find it on Siemens or Phillips. Every machine has their different. Ways of doing things and it's the same thing, but they just have the different ways. When it comes to you working on different MO machines and modalities, how is that, because you are triple modality, how? How is that?

[00:25:47] Chaundria: Is that kind of frustrating or how do you find it?

[00:25:49] Nicole: You know what? Honestly, I think for me the different modalities, even though they're different machines like GE kind of has like their same. [00:26:00] Across the modalities. I feel like there's still, like, some of the stuff is kind of the same and the same thing with Siemens. Like they're single is pretty much the same across the platform.

[00:26:08] Nicole: The platform's the same across the modalities, so I can find certain things in the same places. So I don't know. I just feel like I, I think I'm more of a Siemens person because I like how they're, they're rarely really user friendly. I feel like.

[00:26:22] Chaundria: they are,

[00:26:23] Nicole: are. They are, yeah, user-friendly and ge it's more closer to like, not really a Windows base, but kind of Windows base has like the functionality.

[00:26:32] Nicole: Whereas GE is not really, I haven't really worked on any brand new GEs, so I can't compare, but like the older GEs. You know, I just feel like it's not as user friendly or a lot of the things that you can customize on Siemens, you can't really customize on ge. Right. So I don't really, I, I kind of tend towards loving Siemens a little bit better, but I like both, you know, I even worked on Phillips too.

[00:26:55] Nicole: Yeah. Phillip's NewMed, but Phillips doesn't ha do NewMed cameras anymore. And I [00:27:00] really, I really liked working for Phillip. They're, they're machines. I thought they were really great, but they stopped producing,

[00:27:05] Chaundria: Oh, okay. Wow, that's interesting. So see, now we have a perspective too. I like to talk about the machines, the technical skills, all of these things in any of these modalities. I like to show people who are listening, who don't have a radiology background that we do a lot when it comes to. You know, not just taking pictures, but we have to do IVs.

[00:27:25] Chaundria: We have to administer contrast and radioisotopes. And you talked about the pros and cons, being flexible, going from state to state. What tips would you have for patients undergoing an nuclear medicine exam?

[00:27:38] Nicole: I think for them a lot of them get really like scared. And they're not, they don't know what to expect. So I think just let the technologist know when they show up to the department and say, Hey, you know, this is my first time. I've never, for example, a bone scan, you know, pretty one of the most popular exams that we do in nuclear medicine.

[00:27:57] Nicole: Very straightforward. But you know, it is, [00:28:00] it can be overwhelming the first time, you know, and there's a lot of waiting, not really waiting time, but there's a lot of time because the patient will show up to the department and then we give them an injection of the radioisotope, and then they come back three hours later and they do their pictures.

[00:28:12] Nicole: So I like, I, I think for them to just kind of let the technology know, Hey, it's my first time. Can you kind of explain it to me? Can you. You know, walk me through the process, you know, so, you know, cuz there's two appointments, you know, they come for the injection and they come back. So ask them, you know, when I come back, what, how long is it gonna be?

[00:28:31] Nicole: You know, am I going to be laying down? You know, those type of things. Just ask them to kind of walk you through the process. I know that when I get my patients back, I cannot give it to them, the whole thing from the beginning to the end. And then I ask them, do you have any questions? You know and then I make sure I explain everything to them.

[00:28:48] Nicole: And I also kind of assure them like, we do this all the time. It's a very small amount of radiation, you know, that we are gonna be injecting in. There's no, for the bone scan, there's not really much [00:29:00] precautions for you. And then they see like, you know, cause we get our injections and like a big kind of lead pig.

[00:29:06] Nicole: We call it a lead pig. And so they see and they're like, oh my gosh, like this looks really like. Scary. And I tell 'em no. Yeah. I tell 'em, it's not for you, it's for me. It's more for me than it is for you because I handle it every day. So it's to help my ex reduce my exposure because we're, we're handling it and then they kind of calm down a little bit and you know, I just kind of talk to them as a, as a patient, like, you know, why are you here?

[00:29:33] Nicole: You know, what are they trying to determine? I think it's all about just treating them as a person, not, not by their ID number. Right? Or, you know, what's your name and your birthday? Can I see your wristband? It, it, it's, it's about the passion and I think that's one of the things that I always talk to with my coworkers too.

[00:29:51] Nicole: It's like, I always wanna treat my patients like they're my mom or my my brother, or like, [00:30:00] at the end of the day, why are we here? You know, why are we here in this field? Why are we doing what we're doing? You know, it's, yes, we earn money and we, and, and that is obviously a big part of it, but I think if that's the only part of it, then you're not gonna be happy.

[00:30:18] Chaundria: Yeah, cuz you're gonna be looking for something else to fulfill you in the future. If it's just money. Now you talked about other modalities. I know working in ct, but a lot of times we worked very closely with nuclear medicine tech. So they would either put the IV in, call us and say, now I have your same patient at.

[00:30:34] Chaundria: Yeah. Two o'clock they're here with me. They get their injection. They've got two hours in between. What would you like a 20 or a 22 gauge. And where would you like it? An ac, right. Or left AC or it doesn't matter, you know? So we, we work closely with nuclear medicine when I worked in the cancer center and ct.

[00:30:48] Chaundria: What other modalities does nuclear medicine work in conjunction with? Or is it just CT?

[00:30:53] Nicole: No. So we work with IR a lot. We work with CT and X-ray [00:31:00] too at our facility as well because. In our cancer center, there are, we do a lot of things that a lot of places don't do. So IR does, we do therapy treatments. And so the IR doctor accesses the, the liver vein or the tumor, and then we prepare the radioisotope dose, and then the IR doctor injects that in, in the IR suite. So we work with them a lot. And in order for that therapy to happen, they have to do pre imaging in nuclear medicine to determine the amount of dose that they're gonna give to the patient. So that's done prior to that too. So we see those patients twice actually. We see 'em, like I said, well, they call it a prema for the treatment.

[00:31:40] Nicole: And then they have the actual treatment date. And then in X-ray a lot of times we'll do we call this a liver pump scan where. The patient has a liver pump put in, in under surgery for their chemo treatment to, to be delivered. So what we do is we it's access under floral and then we in, [00:32:00] we inject a radio tracer into the liver pump to determine, to make sure that the pump is working prior to the treat, the patient going for their chemotherapy treatment to make sure that it's gonna be going to where it should be going and not.

[00:32:13] Nicole: Anywhere else. So we work with multiple modalities, and then now we're doing a lot of what they call the diagnostics. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but it we do it's called, it's basically therapy and imaging together. So a lot of one of the most popular ones right now, it's, you know, become very popular was in, in the news and stuff.

[00:32:34] Nicole: It's called provi. It's for a prostate cancer treatment. And it's for patients that have already gone through chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and they have metastatic cancer basically. And it's kind of like on the last resort, but it's this new radioisotope that is given to the patient and we can treat the patient with this injection.

[00:32:59] Nicole: It's [00:33:00] six treatments. And then we can also image as well with the same thing. So that's why it's called theranostics, because it's a, a pair, it's an a therapy pair and an imaging part component as well. And so this has really, it started we started this treatment at my facility in last year, I believe, November or so.

[00:33:20] Nicole: And we, you know, we just can't, there, we have so many people on our wait list because they just cannot produce the isotope. In, in enough quantity. Right now it's supposed to start getting better because they had, because this isotope comes all the way from Italy and it's a short half life. So, and there's just, it's prostate cancer, right?

[00:33:40] Nicole: So we have many people with

[00:33:42] Chaundria: Mm-hmm.

[00:33:43] Nicole: So it's, it's just hard to get that radio isotope. Here in such a short amount of time. So they weren't able to produce it enough and they have production problems and stuff, so they finally just, the FDA just gave approval to, I think, a plant in New Jersey for this company,

[00:33:57] Chaundria: Hmm.

[00:33:58] Nicole: and hopefully that [00:34:00] the dose will be more available because, and decided nuclear medicine pleaded with the FDA to expedite the approval so that we can start producing this drug to help these patients. Because, you know, it's just, it's it, they, they. According to the re, you know, the research has come out is that it's helped these patients tremendously. Tremendously, you know, so we're excited to do that. I think it's great, you know, these patients are really grateful to start receiving this treatment, but it's very hard to get right now.

[00:34:28] Chaundria: Well, this is such, I gotta have you back. I wanna talk about all of those ways that, because I think I'm so glad I asked you that question because so many people just think they can just jump in and do imaging's job. Because they have a limited knowledge of what we do. Some of us have a limited knowledge of what we all do.

[00:34:47] Chaundria: It's so many modalities within the imaging umbrella. And really having these conversations help me as a technologist and other technologists, and then those in the nursing field, [00:35:00] doctors, you know, radiologists, some radiologists, they only read breast. They only read musculoskeletal. They don't know what all we do because they only have a limited.

[00:35:09] Chaundria: Experience with a limited number of technologies. And I, I just, my, I mean my mind is blown by what you were just talking about because I worked in cancer research with a urology group for years. I worked in a cancer center, was my first full-time job in ct. So, you know, and I have a family member with prostate cancer now, and BR cancer runs very prevalent in my family.

[00:35:29] Chaundria: I actually just had genetic testing done to see cuz I've constantly had lumps. Just to see if and family members that have passed away and had complication complications from cancer. So I wanted to see did it fall in my genetic marker? It happened to skip me. But it's very strong in my family.

[00:35:44] Chaundria: So that this really is just amazing to me what you're talking about, this therapeutic. And the nuclear medicine together because even the x-ray and, and nuclear medicine, I didn't know that. I didn't know x-ray and nuclear medicine. That was mind blowing for me as well. And I just [00:36:00] love to have conversations like this because it is so powerful.

[00:36:02] Chaundria: What imaging, when they say we're the eyes into the body, we truly are the eyes into the body and really helping everybody to understand that there is more than one pathway. Into the imaging field, and you don't have to just be stuck in one of those pathways. Some people say, well, X-ray's the only way, or I left because I wasn't making any money.

[00:36:22] Chaundria: You said it best. If money is all you're going for, you wouldn't last in the modalities at all, no matter what modality you went to. You know, but you have to have a passion for wanting to help people and also wanting to advance and learn more, you know, in the field because there are so many ways, I think we have more flexibility.

[00:36:39] Chaundria: What about you? I think we have a more, a, a career that has way more options than a lot of other medical professions.

[00:36:45] Nicole: Yeah. No, I agree. I think, and then also it's not, also, if you want to, you can transition to education too, because I did that briefly also. So there's so many I. Ways, you [00:37:00] know, I was a clinical coordinator or you could be a assistant professor at some point, or an adjunct professor or you know, teach a class or you could tutor other students as well that are currently, you know, in school.

[00:37:14] Nicole: So there's so many different avenues in the imaging world, and it's just really what, what do you want, what do you wanna do? What are you happy with? And I, I think for me, I liked both. I like, I love working in the clinical part, but I also love the education part too. Like I said, I love working with students, so I'm happy that where I work, I'm able to work with the students and be hands-on with them.

[00:37:39] Nicole: And like, it's so funny that you talked about Ivy skills because, you know, we have students come in and they struggle, you know, sometimes, and I'm te I just keep telling him like, don't let it defeat you. You just have to, the way, the only way for you to learn IVs is to do it. There's no other way. You just have to do it.

[00:37:58] Nicole: So don't let it defeat you. And I'll, I'll, [00:38:00] I will try anything to help them out. Like I will grab a pillow and I'll be like, okay, pretend this is a patient's arm and here's the IV and you know, this is how you're gonna do it. And I'll give them all the tips and tricks and whatever works best for them. But I think that's the thing is encouraging them too, and not like being them down and saying, Hey, no.

[00:38:18] Nicole: Like, oh, you only get one try. And then if you don't get one, you don't get on the first try then. You know, you're done. You know, I don't the patient's okay with it. I always make sure the patient's okay with it. Are you okay? You know, and if they're fine with it, then go right ahead, you know, because we're all students.

[00:38:34] Nicole: We were all students

[00:38:35] Chaundria: At one point, at one point.

[00:38:37] Nicole: one point at one point. Yeah. And so I looked back and I was like, I had a great experience, but I also had not a great experience at some places that I was at. So I'm like, I don't wanna be like that person, and I wanna make sure that. I'm training these people to come up into the field so that if my mom shows up to this department, I know she's gonna be taken care of.

[00:38:57] Nicole: You know, I know that they're gonna do the right thing [00:39:00] because people are training them, and you're only as good also sometimes from who you get trained by

[00:39:06] Chaundria: Yeah, and your receptiveness to the training.

[00:39:09] Nicole: yeah.

[00:39:10] Chaundria: And you're, because everybody doesn't wanna be trained. They, some people come in thinking they know everything. You know, so, you know, and it, it's a two-way street, you know, as a, I'm the same way with you. I've been in places where it's like, oh my goodness, I can't wait to get what I need and get outta here, you know?

[00:39:25] Chaundria: But as soon as I can go, I'm going. But, you know, we've all been there and then we've been on the other end of like, oh my goodness, I'm so grateful that when I started out, the people that I rotated with, the technologists, They were the bomb. I mean, they really were supportive of me and really encouraging me to really get as many certifications as I could, like if.

[00:39:46] Chaundria: I, I don't think there was a person that didn't train me that didn't encourage me to get more certifications. They were like, just get all the certifications you can get, get 'em all, and get, don't just do the modality. Get certified in it. They really preached that and I'm so [00:40:00] grateful, and they showed me the tips and tricks of how to work smarter, not harder, you know, and how to give good patient care at the same time.

[00:40:07] Chaundria: How to take the initiative, how to be a go-getter, and it will serve you well, so, As final thoughts, I really wanna hear from you. What closing remarks or inspiration would you have for not only students but technologists as well? Because there are many technologies out there listening this community that listens to this podcast.

[00:40:24] Chaundria: Many of them are looking for other avenues to go into and really I think you could give them some words of encouragement as well as students and those who are listening, maybe they're not sure what to do after high school.

[00:40:35] Nicole: I think for me, I think it's just staying abreast in what's going on in the field to keep kind of staying up to date, you know, if it's going to meetings. One of the things I'm a huge proponent for is going to a national meeting, like if it's. For us, a nuclear medicine society of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging, or going like, I haven't been able to go to an R S A meeting, but my goal is within the next couple years, I would love to go to an R S A meeting, you know, [00:41:00] R S N A meeting, or a S R T or anything like that, whatever your modality is.

[00:41:04] Nicole: You know, go to a meeting network with other technologists, see what they're doing or what they're doing in their facility and, and just kind of learn, just keep always learning, you know, and, and seeing where, where can you grow as a person. Cuz sometimes too, it's not only growing in the imaging field, it's growing in other areas that will make you a more well rounded person, you know, or even in your hospital or your facility.

[00:41:31] Nicole: Like where is there, is there a need? That you could fit into, you know, like you know, whatever, what, maybe there's a committee that they need somebody to help out and maybe you being the imaging professional. Say, Hey, I'll volunteer. And then maybe you, you give them a perspective of like, this is what happens in radiology.

[00:41:49] Nicole: Because a lot of people, especially in the hospital, have no idea what happens in radiology. Nurses have no idea. I have nurses come down, they're like, I've never been here before. Like, [00:42:00] what do you mean this patient's gonna be here for an hour? Huh? You know, like ct, they're kind of used to, and those, but especially like.

[00:42:07] Nicole: Nuclear medicine, they're just not, you know, they have no idea what goes down there. And then sometimes when they're down there, I'll, I'll use that opportunity to kind of educate them. Like they'll start asking me questions. It's like, Hey, what are we doing here? And I explained to them, they're like, oh, that's kind of cool.

[00:42:21] Nicole: And then they open up more. And then you have, you build a relationship too with the nurses. I think it's always about building relationship with other people and communication.

[00:42:29] Chaundria: That you hit the nail on the head. Working together. Communication, it's all about the patient and you know, showing people. What we do in radiology, and I think you've done an amazing job of that today. Thank you for being our guest. And I mean, I know I was blown away by all the things you said today, so I cannot wait until everyone listens to this podcast.

[00:42:52] Chaundria: And please let Nicole know how much you enjoyed learning about nuclear medicine and all the tips that you gave. It's been great. So thank you so [00:43:00] much, Nicole.

[00:43:00] Nicole: Awesome. Thank you so much for having me, Anna. This is a great conversation and definitely would love to do.

[00:43:06] Chaundria: Oh, we are. You said some things. We're gonna talk some more.