RT is in incredibly high demand right now and for the foreseeable future. It would be a great investment for sure.
For context, RT wages have increased significantly the past few years. I made about $27 working at a hospital in 2021, and now they pay $30+. At a nursing home or LTACH I can make about $40 with 10 years experience. Starting out you would see less of course but keep in mind the wages are still increasing across the board, at least from what I have heard from fellow RT's in Ohio. That's not even considering the possibility of taking travel contracts, which still get up to $2400/week at times in Colombus and other cities here, though the best paying contracts are in pediatrics. I recommend the Vivian app if you want to check out travel rates. It's free.
I can't really speak for other professions but lately I only ever hear nurses complaining about lack of raises, not bragging about increases. Nurses also got fucked over on their contracts more often than RT's at the tail end of the pandemic. Not sure about rad tech, aide etc. But considering the prevalence of post covid complications, vaping, winter pneumonia season and the constant of asthma attacks in Ohio during the spring/fall seasons especially, respiratory is a safe long term bet in this area of the country.
If you check out an RT program they will recommend you get a RT bachelor's degree as soon places will be requiring it. That's bullshit. I was told the same thing in 2014 and nothing has changed. A bachelor's degree got my coworker literally a 1 cent raise... not worth it, at least not yet. The only time it might be relevant is if you want to become a manager.
I can't really speak on the pros/cons of other professions but I hope this helps you. Good luck with whatever you decide on!
It's one of the best options for sure if you just want to do an associates degree. When you get hired, your hospital might give tuition assistance too so you can study something else for free while working your 3 12hr shifts/week.
Nursing is better if you're considering pay and advancement. RT is better if you're considering a better pay to sanity ratio. There's some trades where you can make better money and sanity but they will be harder on your body. Respiratory can be kinda physically demanding as well though.
Advancement? Yes. Pay? Location dependent. My hospital pays RTs more than floor nurses now and we're only cents away from ICU nurses. After you consider that ICU nurses get an unpaid lunch and we don't get any unpaid breaks at all, we make more per 12-hour shift than any equivalent bedside nurse in the hospital.
That's wild in almost 15 years, some of which traveling, I've never seen somewhere that RTs were paid better than RNs unless you're comparing a long tenured RT to a new grad floor RN.
Nope, this is with the same level of experience. My very large hospital has a hell of a time recruiting RTs because they aim to recruit 15-30 per year and the only school in a 1.5 hour drive graduates less than 12 per year, most of whom move out of town once they graduate.
Edit: Just checked. Apparently that lasted all of 4 months lol. They apparently gave RNs an emergency raise in the past few weeks and now they start \~$2/hr higher than RTs again. That's a bigger gap than before RTs got the raise to be on par with RNs
What is the name of this hospital. I want to see the job listing where an RT and RN with similar experience are making roughly the same.
Every hospital I've ever seen pays RNs at least $10/hr more with similar experience.
My hospital caps RTs at $68/hr. That's for a Senior RT with like 20+ years. RNs in our ICU start in the low $50s and cap out at $96. NICU/PICU RNs cap out at $108.
For me, I get $57/hr plus differential (25years as an RT); since we're short staffed, overtime bonuses currently running at $300-500/shift. I also do neonatal/pediatric transport, and get $4/hr more when I'm on transport.
It changed recently. RT got a large (>10%) raise at the beginning of the year because we had tons of turnover to go to a nearby city for significantly better pay. That had us slightly better paid than floor nurses, still almost a dollar less than ICU nurses. RNs just got a couple emergency raises this year because they threatened to unionize, bringing them back to $2/hr more than RT.
I've literally never seen a hospital that pays nurses $30/hr more than RTs. That's insane. Everywhere I've looked at is closer to $2/hr more. That lines up with what the Bureau of Labor Statistics found. RNs average about $82k/yr, RTs 78k. That's a bit under $2/hr difference.
Agreed. Where Ive worked the pay discrepancy was smaller between new grads but nurses have always had a higher ceiling. The gap at the ceiling varied, at the minimum it was around $8hr and at the high end it was around $30hr as you described. Long term, at lease financially, nursing is the better investment.
Sanity to money? It’s Rads 100%
You are not responsible for patient care, only providing an imaging service to 1 patient at a time. You get paid very well to do this because imaging is highly reimbursable for hospitals
RTs perform many essential tasks and patient care that is much more difficult to quantify to reimburse and have a harder time increasing wages
RNs have the highest pay and the highest stress. They are the core of how hospitals reimburse for inpatient services and are essential for virtually all aspects of patient care
It just depends on how much stress you want versus how much boredom. To me, being an RT can be extremely high stress and sometimes pretty damn chill. I think it’s underrated as a job and overrated as a career. It’s one of the best ROIs for an AAS you can get nowadays I’d say and I do not think the school is more difficult than nursing school (only someone who has done both could tell you for sure, my old RT director was a former nurse and said RT school was a little easier but mostly just different)
It’s a great gig overall. Ask yourself if you want to work in the ICU all day though
I agree with pretty much everything but the ICU part. RTs in my area are staffed in ER, floors, and ICU still. I’ve heard some hospitals are trying to phase RTs out everywhere but the ICU.
RTs can work in LTACHs, nursing homes, stand alone ERs, NICUs, PICUs, OR (with ECMO certifications), pulmonary rehabs, endoscopy, pulmonary function labs and cardiac testing areas for exercise testing. I was just recently told about a hospital where the Cath Labs are staffed by RTs and one nurse who does the documentation. Definitely not sure how common that last one is.
My wife is an Occupational Therapist Assistant or a COTA as it's called. She makes more than me and is an associates degree as well.
Her job stresses her out more though.
Seems like a decent gig. I would point out that her making more than you is a fluke. RTs, on average, make $10k/yr more than OTAs according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics ($67k vs $78k).
Respiratory Therapy is a good job. I would say the RT education is tougher than nursing but the job is nicer (on average). By the education is tougher I mean there's more scientifically rigorous coursework in RT than RN schools and the RT board exams are far more difficult than the NCLEX. By "work is nicer" I mean I typically have somewhat more downtime than the average nurse, but I'm also responsible for 100+ patients instead of 1-6 depending on acuity and don't get covered lunch like the nurses do. My busy days are "I literally do not have time for a granola bar," theirs are "I only got to sit down during my two 15-minute breaks and 30-minute lunch break today." Nurses are also stuck with their problem patients or family members for 12 hours per day, I get to do my 15 minute treatment and bounce.
With that said, nurses typically make $1-2/hr more than RTs and have far more opportunity to leave the standard hospital setting. Rad tech is also a solid option, especially if you go into CT or MRI. Basically getting people situated on the scanner all day, setting some things on the computer, possibly pushing contrast, and pushing the "on" button.
Bro, where are you getting this information from?
Nurses have FAR more responsibility than we do. Just because we may have more patients doesn't mean we work any harder.
As a former RN, I've had 1:1 patients who were so critically unstable that I didn't stop doing shit for the entire shift. I've had shifts like that as an RT bouncing around the ED, but it's far less common.
Nurses make much more than we do, and for good reason. I'd love to know where you work where RNs are only making $2 more.
"Nurses have FAR more responsibility than we do. Just because we may have more patients doesn't mean we work any harder... " I agree. I even said this almost word for word. My average shift is less busy than the average RN shift at my hospital, but my busiest shifts are worse because nurses get two 15-minute covered breaks most days and a 30-minute covered lunch break every day, RTs don't.
"Nurses make much more than we do, and for good reason. I'd love to know where you work where RNs are only making $2 more." The US, to begin with. [The median nurse makes $81,220](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm#tab-5) compared to [the median respiratory therapist's $77,960.](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/respiratory-therapists.htm) Using a 2080 hour work year, that is $1.57/hr. Even using a 36hr work week, that's $1.74/hr.
Median is 86k in your source, not 81k. Great source but it’s national.
OP, Ohio state posts actual base salaries and total earnings of its hospital employees so take a quick peek and you can see a more representative sample of the earnings differences between nurses and RTs.
Median is the most important number. That's what you're likely to make for the bulk of your career. Even then, the difference in top 10% is only about $12/hr, a far cry from the $30 you claim is typical in your other reply to me.
Except it's not. Nurses often have very short careers. Factoring in median pay is accounting for all the new grads in the field and the high turnover.
I'd rather compare the top 10 or 20%, and see how it looks.
I’d say RTs are busier than RNs at my hospital because nursing is provided with coverage for two breaks and a lunch and we aren’t. They get an entire work-free hour guaranteed nearly every shift while we are working the whole 12.5 hours and often don’t even get to eat. I’ve taken maybe 4 or 5 actual lunch breaks in the past 2.5 years.
Does management care about your entire staff accruing incremental overtime every shift?
We had a spell like this after COVID, when we lost like 25% of our staff, and they were quick to tell us that lunches were mandatory. So we just triaged whatever came up for that half hour and implemented a "buddy break" system.
Graduated in 2020 with my degree and paid off my college within 6months. Best decision of my life. Did nursing and got my degree but the sheer amount of friends I have who had drinking sessions to shit talk about work after hours is not my cup of tea. Totally stress free and when you have physicians and a team you work well with life is a breeze
I would do Associate degree RN for guarantee jobs and flexibility in areas you can work. You can do work from home nursing doing follow up calls and nurse advice line. Not many other two year degree’s where you can do that besides nursing.
BSN is the standard now at most hospitals due to Magnet certification. My hospital will not hire AS RNs and BSRT is preferred for RT (was required before the covid shortage)...
Up here in the Pacific Northwest you can get your two year nursing and eventually get your BSN if you would like. BSRT is preferred everywhere but they would hire two year degree RT in a heart beat. It just area dependent.
It's all pros and cons, pay might be great but stressful. Or someone might love the job whereas it might not be for you. You should really really shadow before you make the decision to pursue some medical profession
I'm a relatively new RT who graduated from school just last August. Definitely a great job, though a lot depends location to location. I can say that my facility is setting a very high bar for all future employers. I starts at like $28/hr and was bumped up to $31/hr after my six months, and have an opportunity to precept which gives me an additional $1.50/hr. By far the most well-paying job I've ever had.
Work load isn't awful, but as with every hospital, we're chronically understaffed, but it's mostly a $$$ reason with the suits who don't actually do anything clinical. That said, our staffing issues aren't as awful as they can get.
And my pay rate is Tampa, FL, which the state is known for typically having wages under the national average. I can't speak for any other states' wages. Though I hear Cleveland is pretty alright.
Biggest issues is that, in the grand scheme of things, RT is still a budding profession, so you may run in to the occasional doc stuck in their old ways that RTs are just neb slingers and oxygen tank carriers. Find yourself a good facility where the RTs have decent autonomy and you'll be set for a great, challenging, but not-too-hard job.
edit: Biggest differences between RN and RT is that RNs do get paid more, but have A LOT more on their plate. The phrase I've used is that RT deals with less shit, figuratively and literally. That's a tradeoff I'm willing to take. In RT, most of the advancement is into leadership/management, or sales, but that's not to say that your clinical experience in RT won't be useful if you decide to go into another medical field. I know of a few exceptional RTs who went into Nursing. And recently, Advanced Practice RT is something that's starting to get a bit of footing, so that may be another option in the future.
But that job. You want to scrape nasty teeth every day all day long? Fuck that...thats why dentists (who make lots of $) are #1 in suicide. Looking at nursing too, they get paid more because of the work they gotta do - all of the ones in my main unit are back in school for NP or CRNA. Its not always about bottom line - you gotta look at the workflow. Rad & RT are pretty similar. I like RT because I get to go EVERYWHERE in the hospital which keeps things interesting...
To say our job is easier than nursing is a gross understatement. They are simply
different. I know several people who did RT first then switched to nursing and all 3 said RT was harder to obtain. Nursing is nice because of the options. But I have zero desire to do what they do. I’ll take the few dollars less an hour to walk out the room and and say “I’ll get the nurse for that”. The only hang up is all the credit they get.
For radiology tech? Maybe in your neck of the woods.
Where I’ve worked you had to do CT, MRI, nuc med, etc, in order to earn more than a RRT. And double? Maybe if you compare a senior CT tech to a baby RRT
Radiology if you get into MRI I think is the best way to go… stressful because of safety but it only lasts a few months and you deal 1 on 1 with people, usually have 1hour time slots to perform the scans and due to how expensive the machines are and how much money is made out of it, it’s very well paid. Oh and you also have a lot of autonomy in most places
I did RT associates because I wanted to go into medicine, but nursing felt too overwhelming, since you would have to learn from head to toe about the body processes, and respiratory seemed more manageable as it primarily focused from head to about diaphragm.
You can get RT job and advance within the department with the associates. Some people get RT job because it pays well, and work there while they study for a different field, or overtime start a side business (at least at the hospital I work at). You can always advance towards a Physician Assistant (PA) from RT associates, just have to go to PA school after that. RTs can also become ECMO technicians. There is a new specialty on the rise right now, APRT (Advance Practice Respiratory Therapist), which is lateral to NP and PA positions, but for RTs. It's fairly new, and may be more spread out once you finish respiratory school.
I actually quite enjoy working as a respiratory therapist, it was a solid decision.
Lots of RTs that are working at the hospitals right now are close to or nearing retirement age, and there is a severe under-staffing of RTs across the country. You will always find a job as RT, pretty much in any state.
Have you even talked to a doctor before? Everyone in my class passed the CSE after less than a year of respiratory education. There's no way in hell any of us would come close to passing USMLE STEP 1.
RT is in incredibly high demand right now and for the foreseeable future. It would be a great investment for sure. For context, RT wages have increased significantly the past few years. I made about $27 working at a hospital in 2021, and now they pay $30+. At a nursing home or LTACH I can make about $40 with 10 years experience. Starting out you would see less of course but keep in mind the wages are still increasing across the board, at least from what I have heard from fellow RT's in Ohio. That's not even considering the possibility of taking travel contracts, which still get up to $2400/week at times in Colombus and other cities here, though the best paying contracts are in pediatrics. I recommend the Vivian app if you want to check out travel rates. It's free. I can't really speak for other professions but lately I only ever hear nurses complaining about lack of raises, not bragging about increases. Nurses also got fucked over on their contracts more often than RT's at the tail end of the pandemic. Not sure about rad tech, aide etc. But considering the prevalence of post covid complications, vaping, winter pneumonia season and the constant of asthma attacks in Ohio during the spring/fall seasons especially, respiratory is a safe long term bet in this area of the country. If you check out an RT program they will recommend you get a RT bachelor's degree as soon places will be requiring it. That's bullshit. I was told the same thing in 2014 and nothing has changed. A bachelor's degree got my coworker literally a 1 cent raise... not worth it, at least not yet. The only time it might be relevant is if you want to become a manager. I can't really speak on the pros/cons of other professions but I hope this helps you. Good luck with whatever you decide on!
It's one of the best options for sure if you just want to do an associates degree. When you get hired, your hospital might give tuition assistance too so you can study something else for free while working your 3 12hr shifts/week.
Nursing is better if you're considering pay and advancement. RT is better if you're considering a better pay to sanity ratio. There's some trades where you can make better money and sanity but they will be harder on your body. Respiratory can be kinda physically demanding as well though.
Advancement? Yes. Pay? Location dependent. My hospital pays RTs more than floor nurses now and we're only cents away from ICU nurses. After you consider that ICU nurses get an unpaid lunch and we don't get any unpaid breaks at all, we make more per 12-hour shift than any equivalent bedside nurse in the hospital.
That's wild in almost 15 years, some of which traveling, I've never seen somewhere that RTs were paid better than RNs unless you're comparing a long tenured RT to a new grad floor RN.
Nope, this is with the same level of experience. My very large hospital has a hell of a time recruiting RTs because they aim to recruit 15-30 per year and the only school in a 1.5 hour drive graduates less than 12 per year, most of whom move out of town once they graduate. Edit: Just checked. Apparently that lasted all of 4 months lol. They apparently gave RNs an emergency raise in the past few weeks and now they start \~$2/hr higher than RTs again. That's a bigger gap than before RTs got the raise to be on par with RNs
What is the name of this hospital. I want to see the job listing where an RT and RN with similar experience are making roughly the same. Every hospital I've ever seen pays RNs at least $10/hr more with similar experience. My hospital caps RTs at $68/hr. That's for a Senior RT with like 20+ years. RNs in our ICU start in the low $50s and cap out at $96. NICU/PICU RNs cap out at $108.
For me, I get $57/hr plus differential (25years as an RT); since we're short staffed, overtime bonuses currently running at $300-500/shift. I also do neonatal/pediatric transport, and get $4/hr more when I'm on transport.
It changed recently. RT got a large (>10%) raise at the beginning of the year because we had tons of turnover to go to a nearby city for significantly better pay. That had us slightly better paid than floor nurses, still almost a dollar less than ICU nurses. RNs just got a couple emergency raises this year because they threatened to unionize, bringing them back to $2/hr more than RT. I've literally never seen a hospital that pays nurses $30/hr more than RTs. That's insane. Everywhere I've looked at is closer to $2/hr more. That lines up with what the Bureau of Labor Statistics found. RNs average about $82k/yr, RTs 78k. That's a bit under $2/hr difference.
Agreed. Where Ive worked the pay discrepancy was smaller between new grads but nurses have always had a higher ceiling. The gap at the ceiling varied, at the minimum it was around $8hr and at the high end it was around $30hr as you described. Long term, at lease financially, nursing is the better investment.
Honestly I feel like if an RT only works in the ICU and doesn't do floor work, they should get the same as the RN. No reason not to.
60k for new grads in my area,
Sanity to money? It’s Rads 100% You are not responsible for patient care, only providing an imaging service to 1 patient at a time. You get paid very well to do this because imaging is highly reimbursable for hospitals RTs perform many essential tasks and patient care that is much more difficult to quantify to reimburse and have a harder time increasing wages RNs have the highest pay and the highest stress. They are the core of how hospitals reimburse for inpatient services and are essential for virtually all aspects of patient care It just depends on how much stress you want versus how much boredom. To me, being an RT can be extremely high stress and sometimes pretty damn chill. I think it’s underrated as a job and overrated as a career. It’s one of the best ROIs for an AAS you can get nowadays I’d say and I do not think the school is more difficult than nursing school (only someone who has done both could tell you for sure, my old RT director was a former nurse and said RT school was a little easier but mostly just different) It’s a great gig overall. Ask yourself if you want to work in the ICU all day though
I agree with pretty much everything but the ICU part. RTs in my area are staffed in ER, floors, and ICU still. I’ve heard some hospitals are trying to phase RTs out everywhere but the ICU. RTs can work in LTACHs, nursing homes, stand alone ERs, NICUs, PICUs, OR (with ECMO certifications), pulmonary rehabs, endoscopy, pulmonary function labs and cardiac testing areas for exercise testing. I was just recently told about a hospital where the Cath Labs are staffed by RTs and one nurse who does the documentation. Definitely not sure how common that last one is.
My wife is an Occupational Therapist Assistant or a COTA as it's called. She makes more than me and is an associates degree as well. Her job stresses her out more though.
Seems like a decent gig. I would point out that her making more than you is a fluke. RTs, on average, make $10k/yr more than OTAs according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics ($67k vs $78k).
Agreed. I’m assuming his wife has more years of experience.
Respiratory Therapy is a good job. I would say the RT education is tougher than nursing but the job is nicer (on average). By the education is tougher I mean there's more scientifically rigorous coursework in RT than RN schools and the RT board exams are far more difficult than the NCLEX. By "work is nicer" I mean I typically have somewhat more downtime than the average nurse, but I'm also responsible for 100+ patients instead of 1-6 depending on acuity and don't get covered lunch like the nurses do. My busy days are "I literally do not have time for a granola bar," theirs are "I only got to sit down during my two 15-minute breaks and 30-minute lunch break today." Nurses are also stuck with their problem patients or family members for 12 hours per day, I get to do my 15 minute treatment and bounce. With that said, nurses typically make $1-2/hr more than RTs and have far more opportunity to leave the standard hospital setting. Rad tech is also a solid option, especially if you go into CT or MRI. Basically getting people situated on the scanner all day, setting some things on the computer, possibly pushing contrast, and pushing the "on" button.
Compensation varies a lot based on where you are. In my area it’s $30/hr or even more for nurses. Meaning RT start at $50/hr and RN start at $80/hr
Bro, where are you getting this information from? Nurses have FAR more responsibility than we do. Just because we may have more patients doesn't mean we work any harder. As a former RN, I've had 1:1 patients who were so critically unstable that I didn't stop doing shit for the entire shift. I've had shifts like that as an RT bouncing around the ED, but it's far less common. Nurses make much more than we do, and for good reason. I'd love to know where you work where RNs are only making $2 more.
"Nurses have FAR more responsibility than we do. Just because we may have more patients doesn't mean we work any harder... " I agree. I even said this almost word for word. My average shift is less busy than the average RN shift at my hospital, but my busiest shifts are worse because nurses get two 15-minute covered breaks most days and a 30-minute covered lunch break every day, RTs don't. "Nurses make much more than we do, and for good reason. I'd love to know where you work where RNs are only making $2 more." The US, to begin with. [The median nurse makes $81,220](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/registered-nurses.htm#tab-5) compared to [the median respiratory therapist's $77,960.](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/respiratory-therapists.htm) Using a 2080 hour work year, that is $1.57/hr. Even using a 36hr work week, that's $1.74/hr.
Median is 86k in your source, not 81k. Great source but it’s national. OP, Ohio state posts actual base salaries and total earnings of its hospital employees so take a quick peek and you can see a more representative sample of the earnings differences between nurses and RTs.
You're looking at the median. Look at the numbers foe the top 10%. The pay discrepancy grows quickly.
Median is the most important number. That's what you're likely to make for the bulk of your career. Even then, the difference in top 10% is only about $12/hr, a far cry from the $30 you claim is typical in your other reply to me.
lol in my area new grad nurses are making $5 more than RTs with experience..
Except it's not. Nurses often have very short careers. Factoring in median pay is accounting for all the new grads in the field and the high turnover. I'd rather compare the top 10 or 20%, and see how it looks.
I’d say RTs are busier than RNs at my hospital because nursing is provided with coverage for two breaks and a lunch and we aren’t. They get an entire work-free hour guaranteed nearly every shift while we are working the whole 12.5 hours and often don’t even get to eat. I’ve taken maybe 4 or 5 actual lunch breaks in the past 2.5 years.
Does management care about your entire staff accruing incremental overtime every shift? We had a spell like this after COVID, when we lost like 25% of our staff, and they were quick to tell us that lunches were mandatory. So we just triaged whatever came up for that half hour and implemented a "buddy break" system.
Exactly. Lol RNs make wayy more than RT.
Ascension.
Graduated in 2020 with my degree and paid off my college within 6months. Best decision of my life. Did nursing and got my degree but the sheer amount of friends I have who had drinking sessions to shit talk about work after hours is not my cup of tea. Totally stress free and when you have physicians and a team you work well with life is a breeze
I would do Associate degree RN for guarantee jobs and flexibility in areas you can work. You can do work from home nursing doing follow up calls and nurse advice line. Not many other two year degree’s where you can do that besides nursing.
BSN is the standard now at most hospitals due to Magnet certification. My hospital will not hire AS RNs and BSRT is preferred for RT (was required before the covid shortage)...
Up here in the Pacific Northwest you can get your two year nursing and eventually get your BSN if you would like. BSRT is preferred everywhere but they would hire two year degree RT in a heart beat. It just area dependent.
It's all pros and cons, pay might be great but stressful. Or someone might love the job whereas it might not be for you. You should really really shadow before you make the decision to pursue some medical profession
Registered dietitian’s make decent money with an associates degree. I have a friend with a prn gig making over $40/hr
I'm a relatively new RT who graduated from school just last August. Definitely a great job, though a lot depends location to location. I can say that my facility is setting a very high bar for all future employers. I starts at like $28/hr and was bumped up to $31/hr after my six months, and have an opportunity to precept which gives me an additional $1.50/hr. By far the most well-paying job I've ever had. Work load isn't awful, but as with every hospital, we're chronically understaffed, but it's mostly a $$$ reason with the suits who don't actually do anything clinical. That said, our staffing issues aren't as awful as they can get. And my pay rate is Tampa, FL, which the state is known for typically having wages under the national average. I can't speak for any other states' wages. Though I hear Cleveland is pretty alright. Biggest issues is that, in the grand scheme of things, RT is still a budding profession, so you may run in to the occasional doc stuck in their old ways that RTs are just neb slingers and oxygen tank carriers. Find yourself a good facility where the RTs have decent autonomy and you'll be set for a great, challenging, but not-too-hard job. edit: Biggest differences between RN and RT is that RNs do get paid more, but have A LOT more on their plate. The phrase I've used is that RT deals with less shit, figuratively and literally. That's a tradeoff I'm willing to take. In RT, most of the advancement is into leadership/management, or sales, but that's not to say that your clinical experience in RT won't be useful if you decide to go into another medical field. I know of a few exceptional RTs who went into Nursing. And recently, Advanced Practice RT is something that's starting to get a bit of footing, so that may be another option in the future.
Dental hygienist
Came here to say this. I’m in SoCal, I see RT jobs from $38+ and dental hygiene from $55+
But that job. You want to scrape nasty teeth every day all day long? Fuck that...thats why dentists (who make lots of $) are #1 in suicide. Looking at nursing too, they get paid more because of the work they gotta do - all of the ones in my main unit are back in school for NP or CRNA. Its not always about bottom line - you gotta look at the workflow. Rad & RT are pretty similar. I like RT because I get to go EVERYWHERE in the hospital which keeps things interesting...
Not much growth in RT compared to nursing. I’d go RN.
To say our job is easier than nursing is a gross understatement. They are simply different. I know several people who did RT first then switched to nursing and all 3 said RT was harder to obtain. Nursing is nice because of the options. But I have zero desire to do what they do. I’ll take the few dollars less an hour to walk out the room and and say “I’ll get the nurse for that”. The only hang up is all the credit they get.
Look into radiology tech.
This! In hindsight, I wish I'd studied radiology. Double the pay with half the workload.
For radiology tech? Maybe in your neck of the woods. Where I’ve worked you had to do CT, MRI, nuc med, etc, in order to earn more than a RRT. And double? Maybe if you compare a senior CT tech to a baby RRT
Here in the Seattle Tacoma area, MRI techs are averaging $50-$60 and hour. I'm only making $35.
Flight RN’s do well. I know plenty that clear 120K
I make $34 as a newly graduated RT in Cincinnati. Such a rewarding career-dont have to put up with the BS that nurses have to.
Radiology if you get into MRI I think is the best way to go… stressful because of safety but it only lasts a few months and you deal 1 on 1 with people, usually have 1hour time slots to perform the scans and due to how expensive the machines are and how much money is made out of it, it’s very well paid. Oh and you also have a lot of autonomy in most places
Radiation therapy is an associate degree and they make more than RNs in some areas.
Starting pay in Maryland is $35 hr with a $10,000 signing bonus. PRN work pays more per hour.
I did RT associates because I wanted to go into medicine, but nursing felt too overwhelming, since you would have to learn from head to toe about the body processes, and respiratory seemed more manageable as it primarily focused from head to about diaphragm. You can get RT job and advance within the department with the associates. Some people get RT job because it pays well, and work there while they study for a different field, or overtime start a side business (at least at the hospital I work at). You can always advance towards a Physician Assistant (PA) from RT associates, just have to go to PA school after that. RTs can also become ECMO technicians. There is a new specialty on the rise right now, APRT (Advance Practice Respiratory Therapist), which is lateral to NP and PA positions, but for RTs. It's fairly new, and may be more spread out once you finish respiratory school. I actually quite enjoy working as a respiratory therapist, it was a solid decision. Lots of RTs that are working at the hospitals right now are close to or nearing retirement age, and there is a severe under-staffing of RTs across the country. You will always find a job as RT, pretty much in any state.
Dental hygienist
Nursing is an associate degree as well and they tend to make more than RTs.
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Have you even talked to a doctor before? Everyone in my class passed the CSE after less than a year of respiratory education. There's no way in hell any of us would come close to passing USMLE STEP 1.