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.
Visuals!
This is a good video that shows some of the days work, plus a brief look at the past technology. It helps with the pro's of the essay.
A cool-little informational video on how x-ray works.
annotated bibliography
Career Cruising. Anaca Technologies Ltd., 11 Apr. 2010. Web.
<
.'>http://www.careercruising.com.proxy.yc.edu/Main/Index.aspx?LoginID=1948176f- ea0f-4692-HYPERLINK "http://www.careercruising.com.proxy.yc.edu/Main/Index.aspx?LoginID=1948176f-ea0f-4692-8118-" 8118-30b00d5f81b7->.This is the career cruising site that contains interviews from two Radiologists. It's good information on the work hours, salary, and just any kind of info you might need from interviewing someone in a work field. They even have some pros and cons on the job which will help with the argumentative side of the essay. There is more information besides the interviews. They have photos of Radiologist doing their job, using and looking at machinery, with a brief caption of what's going on in the picture. You can find education needed to get into the field, speculated salary and expected future of the job, related careers, and so much more. It's only credible mention is that it is supported by Yavapai College and it comes from a company called Anaca Technologies Ltd, which all content is copy-written to.
"The Radiology Blog." Web log post. Wednesday, December 30, 2009. Blogger, 30 Dec. 2009. Web.
This is just a blog site(blogger.com) with blog posts full of information on the field of Radiology. There is a lot of information that shows how things are done in Radiology from information about how to read an x-ray to the Radiology salary in general etc. The most interesting post is the one titled "A Day in the Life of a Radiologist", which entails a short but detailed look in the field of Radiology for a day. Some of the information can be found as credible through the main source, but other then that it's just a blog from an anonymous poster. To acquire information on the blog they request you contact 'them' through e-mail. I'm not sure the information is posted by anyone in the field, that's why I'm including an interview site as my next source.
RadiologyInfo - The Radiology Information Resource for Patients. Radiological Society of North America, Inc. (RSNA). Web. 05 Apr. 2010. <
http://www.radiologyinfo.org/>.
This is a government (.gov) site showing the many uses of Radiology to patients. I know it's not info on a Radiology career in particular, but it does help show some of the fields of interest through the operations. It also shows information on what they use and the procedures in the field. It tells of which areas on the body they can perform radiology procedures and how it can help. It even explains the types of therapy it can offer as well. There is a lot of good information about the field even if it's mainly for patients, and it's a government site so it has valid information. There's even movie clips and pictures to get better acquainted with what they are talking about.
"Radiology." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 06 Apr. 2010. Web. 05 Apr. 2010. <
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiology>.
This is your average Wikipedia site that holds a lot of information, credible and not. It's just chocked full of info with added sites of interest. It shows the different branches of Radiology, the imaging technology they use, and even some useful background info on training and how it's expanding along with tech. They even have a small section at the beginning on the nature of the work, which is always nice to know what you're actually getting into. It then goes into some of the other countries backgrounds with Radiology. At the end it has your References and External links if I want to get more info then was offered in the wiki.
You Heard it Here First: CT Scans and Cancer Risk. The Women's Health Activist 1 Jan. 2008: Health Module, ProQuest. Web. 7 Apr. 2010.
This is an article found in the ProQuest search about CT (Computed Tomography) scans and how they could be harmful. It comes with a full TXT- PDF file of the magazine article. It argues that CT scans increase the risk of skin cancer, and that they sometimes over do some procedures. Apparently the doses of radiation being used, has been associated with increased risk of skin cancer. CT scans are even estimated at causing as many as 2% of all cancers. This article is a little old dating at 2008, but it's still close enough to be potentially useful in my argument.
Essay 3 : Pt. 2 - Collected Links
I choose to broaden my search to the Radiology field exclusively because Onocology is narrow and can be hard to find some of the information in this field.
http://theradiologyblog.blogspot.com/This is just a blog site(blogger) with blogs full of information on the field of Radiology. There is a lot of information that shows how things are done in Radiology to more information about Radiology in general. I don't think the information is posted by anyone in the field, that's why I'm including an interview site as my next source.
http://www.careercruising.com.proxy.yc.edu/Careers/JobDetails.aspx?LoginID=fa07ca5d-3f23-4362-9fee-19399eab471e-&OccNumber=591&field=JobDescThis is the career cruising site that contains interviews from two Radiologists. It's good information on the work hours, salary, and just any kind of info you might need from interviewing someone in a work field. They even have some pros and cons on the job which will help with the argumentative side of the essay.
http://www.radiologyinfo.org/This is a government site showing the many uses of Radiology to patients. I know it's not info on thecareer, but it does help show some of the fields of interest through the operations. It also can show information on what they use and the procedures in the field. It tells of which areas of the body they can perform radiology and how it can help. It even explains the types of therapy it can offer. There is a lot of good information about the field even if it's for patients, and it's a government site so it has valid info. It's got a lot more information then most sites provide for Radiology. There's even movie clips and pictures to get better acquainted with what they are talking about.
http://proquest.umi.com.proxy.yc.edu/pqdweb?index=4&sid=4&srchmode=1&vinst=PROD&fmt=6&startpage=-1&clientid=1407&vname=PQD&RQT=309&did=1418098391&scaling=FULL&ts=1270236380&vtype=PQD&rqt=309&TS=1270236464&clientId=1407This is an article found in the ProQuest search about CT (Computed Tomography) scans and how they could be harmful. It comes with a full TXT- PDF file of the magazine article. It argues that CT scans increase the risk of skin cancer, and that they sometimes over do some procedures. Apparently the doses of radiation being used, has been associated with increased risk of skin cancer. CT scans are even estimated at causing as many as 2% of all cancers. This article is a little old dating at 2008, but it's still close enough to be potentially useful in my argument.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RadiologyThis is your average Wikipedia site that holds a lot of information, credible and not. It's just chocked full of info with added sites of interest. It shows the different branches of Radiology, the imaging technology they use, and even some useful background info on training and how it's expanding along with tech. They even have a small section at the beginning on the nature of the work, which is always nice to know what you're actually getting into. It then goes into some of the other countries backgrounds with Radiology. At the end it has your References and External links if I want to get more info then was offered in the wiki.
ENG - 101 Homework : Essay 3 - Career Choice Pt. 1
I'm attending Yavapai College to pursue my career goal in the field of Radiology. It's going to be a tough road traveled with only ten students accepted per year, but I have nursing as a potential backup. I've always liked technology and science so it was just a natural fit. The area/field in Radiology that I want to pursue the most is Onocology. It's the sub-specialty of radiology devoted to the treatment of cancer with radiation. Onocology consists of sending radiation from an outside x-ray source or an injection into the body. I'm still not one hundred percent sure this is the field I want, but after my mom passed away from cancer I've been more interested in this field particularly. It was just a life changing experience that I never want to go through again. I don't want to lose anyone close from something as simple/common as cancer again. If I can be in a field using technology to save people from cancer where my mom was not, I could be proud to say I'm making a difference. You can't help all the people all of the time, but at least I could make a dent. I just want to help people and be better acquainted with the medical field. Plus, I get to work with giant uber-computers. WOOT! I think I have the right personality and hospitality, I just don't have the tools. This is why I'm enrolled into Yavapai. To acquire these tools...
Travesty
This be my Blogg, ye' see!? I want no trouble makers around here, now... ye'see!?
I'll be gettin' around to makin' it purty,.. n'yaaaa.
I'll be gettin' around to makin' it purty,.. n'yaaaa.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)