Radiology - Not the study of radios?

No, Radiology isn't the study of radios, but the study of medicine that utilizes imaging technologies like x-rays, CT scans, and MRIs to diagnose and treat disease. This is the career field I want to peruse while attending school here at Yavapai College. I find it highly interesting and overwhelming at the same time, which get's my heart pumping like a trip to Disney Land. Getting to use giant sleek and modern machines designed to find problems within a person, is just too cool in my book . It's like something from an 80's sci-fi novel . Now, since I'd be using high tech machinery, there comes the long term schooling to get in. Yavapai College only accepts ten student each year to participate in their Radiology program. It's a sad thing to know but medical students are in high demand, so this could flux rapidly over a short period of time. I'm still not exactly sure which sub-field of Radiology I want to go into, but as long as it's curing people, and more likely something with cancer, then I will enjoy it. There is however a slight downside to Radiology. It's fairly new and still being analyzed for further employments of better methods and procedures. CT (Computed Tomography) have been found to actually increase the risk of skin cancer. It's these sort of new troubles that haunt the field of Radiology, but overall it has been managing these problems over the years since it first started. The major concern in Radiology, is the long-term schooling. It's limited to how many are accepted and you have to train hard for a very long period of time. The rough minimum time requirment to become a full Radiologist is around twenty years of training. Radiology takes rigorous training to get in and in some cases the methods used could be potentially harmful , but everything comes with it's faults when it's still new and expanding to the market.

Like I mentioned prior, CT scans have been seen as slightly risky, as it can risk the chances of skin cancer instead of helping diagnose . I'll get into this later, but the thing I want to point out is the 'trail and error'method over periods of time. CT scanning has been around since 1972, but was brand new at the time. Here we are today in 2010 still using CT scans, but only now discovering there could potentially be a downfall with it's procedure. Nothing is perfect it's first time around. It needs testing. For all we know, the cereal we eat for breakfast will make us spontaneously explode over time. Who knows? I'm just saying. It's through testing, trail and error, and just prolonged use of a product, that we can see the actual outcomes of it's use. This goes for everything. Even the things that are here to help, like Radiology. Going back to the CT scans, I found an interesting semi-recent 2008 article showing CT scans as possibly harmful. While they can be more helpful then harmful in helping the doctor find and treat the threatening problem, at least one-third of the diagnostic CT scans are done needlessly. Either it's just in case or because earlier results aren't present in patients. CT scans are to be used sparingly and only if it's the last possible option. They are very useful, but troublsome in the long run if misused. While that is bad news in the terms of the Radiolody department, but that's the only real downfall I could find with it's procedures. Toyota cars are flying down the highways out of control, or so they say, for some problem undiscovered by the car manufacturers. This is what I ment by 'trail and error'. Sh*t happens and it's only when something goes wrong that we can acknowledge a problem and fix it. Same goes for Radiology. Although there is some backfire going on in the CT scan department, it doesnt' mean there isn't room for improvement.

The biggest problem with Radiology has the be the acceptence into the field. Yavapai College only accepts ten students per year to be entered into the program. I'm not to sure why Yavapai College does this in particular, but it's annoying to say the least. I know that's my own ignorance on the matter, but common sense says that's just unreasonable. With the backup information found on all the sites, including Yavapai, they claim the need for Radiology is high. If it's supposed to be in high demand some would think Yavapai, or other schools, would be accepting more students per year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment to grow faster than average for Radiology Technologists and job opportunities to remain favorable. Overall, Radiology is a competitive field. Applicants are most often close to the top in their medical school. The field is quickly expanding due to leaps in computer technology, which is tightly linked to modern imaging. Diagnostic radiologists are required to finish at least thirteen years of post-high school education, including prerequisite undergraduate training, four years of medical school, and five years of post-graduate training. Now, I'm only trying to obtain my associates degree, but that's a lot of preparation if I choose to continue with Radiology further. Near completion, the radiologist in training is able to take the written and oral board exam administered by the American Board of Radiology (ABR). Starting in 2010 though, the ABR's board examination format will be altered to include two computer-based exams, one given after the third year of residency training, and the second eighteen months later. In a nut-shell, that is a lot of basic training to become a full fledged Radiologist. Even if the demands for Radiologist read high, it seems like a slow and hard program to get into.

Radiology is in good standards as far as medical procedures go, although the CT scans being "cancerous" in it's medical irony. The article about CT's was made in 2008 though, respectfully. It's a recent enough article to be considered debatable, but it's not exactly the most current. CT scans were being used unspairingly and sometimes needlessly, but that's just a procedure that has since been modified. They try to keep the use of CT scans as a precaution when necessary. Overall, it's a field made on using risky methods by using potentially harmful materials . CT scans are always making improvements like faster scanning times and improved resolution. This has dramatically increased the accuracy and usefullness of CT scanning and consequently raised the utilization in medical diagnosis. It's just a fascinating field that can only get better with time. I know it sounds risky using harmful materials to heal humans , and it may also sound confusing, but Radiology has only struck the tip of the iceberg in the field of medical science. It's a field surrounded by advancing technolgy, so it can only get better at treating people faster and more efficiantly. Being accepted into the field is hard, but with enough effort, it can be easily achieveable. I'm just getting my foot in the door and if I like what I see, I'll continue the long road of training. I think, as far as it goes, in the terms of what I want to do or could do, this career is awesome. It helps people by taking pictures. And they say Kodak moment? Well, then what does that make Radiology? Radiology is an amazing medical field that helps patients by using modern imaging to find whats ailing them. Kodak has nothing on Radiology. In the end, even with some of the faults it faces, I know Radiology is the right career for me and the people it will treat for years to come.