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A radiologic technologist, also known as a radiographer, is a professional in the medical field who is responsible for taking medical images of the body, usually with an X-ray machine, and interpreting them in order to help doctors to diagnose and treat ailments and injuries. If one is interested in this medical field, education and training is needed and can be acquired from hospitals, universities, colleges and radiology tech schools.

The term radiologic technologist is a substantially broad term and can refer to a wide range of specializations that one can take. An individual, among many others, can be a radiographer, sonographer or therapist by specializing in a certain field. They usually take control of advanced equipment that is capable of capturing high quality images of the different parts of the body.

Being a radiologic technologist can bring you to different fields of specialization, and these can include Diagnostic Radiography for scanning the bones, cavities and foreign objects lodged in the body, Sonography for ultrasound scans, and Radiotherapy which harnesses the power of radiation to get rid or minimize cancerous cells in the body. Other fields include Fluoroscopy, MRI or Magnetic Resonance Imaging, CT or Computed Tomography, Mammography and Nuclear Medicine.

A radiologic technologist’s primary responsibility is to prepare patients for the scanning procedure that they will undergo and explaining to them everything they need to know in order to successfully capture images. Since X-rays are the common equipment used, they must make sure that patients are not wearing any interfering objects like jewelries and ensure that they get utmost protection from too much radiation thru the use of lead shields.

Radiographers also ensure that the radiographic equipment is properly positioned at the right height and angle of the patient’s body to be scanned in order to ensure optimal image capturing. They also make use of an object similar to a measuring tape to assess the correct range of area to be scanned and manipulate the equipment to produce images of optimum detail, contrast and density. They then place an X-ray film beneath the body part to be photographed and after development it is then analyzed.