You love working in the exhilarating and fast-paced environment of MRI technology, but lately, things haven’t felt as exciting.
While you would never leave the field for another career, you’re wondering how you might refuel your passion for your work.
Traveling as an MRI tech allows you to shake things up a bit without entirely switching industries. There are also additional benefits like an increase in pay rate and the thrill of traveling all across the country.
If this sounds like something that may interest you, keep reading to find out how you can become a travel MRI tech.
Table of Contents
- Can You Travel as an MRI Tech?
- What Do Travel MRI Techs Do?
- 5 Benefits of Working as a Travel MRI Tech
- How To Become a Travel Travel MRI Tech: A Look at Skills, Qualifications, Demand, and Earning Potential
- Start Your Travel MRI Tech Journey With Pronto
Can You Travel as an MRI Tech?
Yes!
Healthcare travel opportunities are not just limited to nurses. In addition to getting paid to do what they love, allied health workers can travel across the United States while working with leading minds and equipment.
Pronto, powered by Trusted Nurse Staffing, helps travel MRI techs find the best job assignments on the market. Forget spending time trying to track down travel listings on the internet. Pronto allows you to easily find jobs at the tap of a button.
What Do Travel MRI Techs Do?
MRI technologists specialize in operating magnetic resonance imaging equipment to create 3D images of a patient’s internal tissues and organs. They collaborate with doctors and nurses to help diagnose internal issues in various parts of the body.
MRI techs often work in healthcare facilities such as hospitals, clinics, or imaging centers.
Along with operating MRI equipment, other MRI technologist duties include:
- Adjusting and maintaining imaging equipment
- Preparing patients for scans
- Positioning patients for imaging
- Injecting patients with contrast media
- Ensuring that patients remain calm and are comfortable
- Working with doctors and nurses to identify where patients should be scanned
- Operating imaging technology during scans
- Taking notes and maintaining relevant patient records
Internal imaging plays a critical role in patient diagnosis. As an MRI tech, your work can help doctors make diagnoses and potentially save many lives. You’re also one of the people patients look toward for guidance and comfort during what may be a particularly scary time in their life.
5 Benefits of Working as a Travel MRI Tech
#1: Getting To Travel
As a travel MRI tech, you can couple your passion for your job with your love for traveling! Healthcare is one of the few industries that allows you to travel around changing lives and feeding your wanderlust.
It’s like getting paid to go on vacation. Unlike visiting an area briefly, travel allied health professionals get to stay at their chosen destination for up to 6, 8, or 13 weeks. This gives you plenty of time to explore the area and see all it offers.
Feel like staying somewhere warm for the winter? Choose a 13-week contract in the Florida Everglades. Curious about life in the big city? Try a 6-week stay in Chicago or New York City.
Trusted Nurse Staffing and Pronto make it easy to find travel opportunities all across the United States. Just sign up and start scrolling through jobs.
#2: Job Flexibility
Travel MRI techs are at liberty to choose which facilities they work at and the length of their contracts. If you decide you’d like to try out life as a travel worker, you could test out a 6-week contract. If you find an assignment at a location you really like, you may even be able to extend your stay beyond 13 weeks.
Besides choosing where you work and for how long, you also have the freedom to take time off between contracts. This gives you an excellent opportunity to fit a real vacation in between contracts without needing to request time off (plus, you can put all that extra money you earned as a travel MRI tech to good use). Or you could maximize your earning potential by taking contracts back-to-back.
As a travel MRI tech with Trusted Nurse Staffing, the choice is up to you!
#3: Professional Growth
Exposure to new settings and circumstances is just the thing an MRI technologist needs to develop new skills, gain new knowledge, and advance their expertise.
Travel MRI techs get to expand their horizons and cultivate a deeper understanding of the radiology field.
Whether you’re using the latest technology or working with a diverse variety of professionals and patients, traveling for work provides plenty of opportunities to thrive.
#4: Networking Opportunities
While working and traveling, you’ll get to mix and mingle with various minds in your field. Some of them may belong to leading experts in the industry who may just give you a reference to help you advance your career.
Opening new doors isn’t just limited to expanding your network; you’ll also have plenty of opportunities to make new friends. Some of them might even be fellow travelers that your Trusted Nurse Staffing recruiter can connect you with.
How To Become a Travel MRI Tech: A Look at Skills, Qualifications, Demand, and Earning Potential
Skills
To be successful as an MRI technologist, you may need to have several essential qualities, such as:
- Attention to detail: MRI techs must follow precise instructions to properly attain the images needed for diagnosis.
- Interpersonal skills: You may often work with distressed or in-pain patients as an MRI tech. You’ll need to be empathetic and comforting to ensure their calm.
- Mathematically adept: MRI techs may need to calculate the proper levels of radiation needed for imaging.
- Physical stamina: Radiologic technologists, like MRI techs, are often on their feet for extended periods and may frequently have to lift or position patients.
- Technical skills: MRI techs operate highly specialized and expensive equipment.
- Your role as an MRI technologist may not be different while you’re traveling from place to place. However, working as a travel MRI nurse may require you to be:
- A team player: Healthcare travel workers are often placed in facilities that are short on staff. To thrive, you’ll need to work with staff employees to fulfill your duties and help others.
- Adaptive: As a travel MRI tech, you’ll frequently move to different facilities with different layouts, equipment, and procedures. You’ll often need to adjust to your environment effectively in a short amount of time.
- Patient: Learning new procedures and working with new people may be overwhelming. You’ll have to afford yourself some patience as you become more familiar with new environments.
- Focused: No matter what your day throws at you, you’ll need to be able to dodge stress and remain focused on the task at hand.
Education
To become an MRI tech, you must obtain an associate’s or bachelor’s degree from a specialized MRI program.
Either degree must be in radiography, radiologic sciences, or nuclear medicine technology accredited by the Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology (JRCERT). You can expect your coursework to include subjects regarding:
- Anatomy
- Pathology
- Patient care
- Radiation physics and protection
- Image evaluation
- And more
After completing your degree, you’ll need to take a certification exam and become credentialed by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) or the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board (NMTCB).
The education, licensing, and certification requirements to become an MRI tech may vary from state to state. States that do not require a license or certification for MRI techs include:
- Alabama
- Indiana
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- South Dakota
As an Allied Health Travel MRI tech with Trusted Staff Nursing, you can rely on your support team to help you see which states you can travel to with your current qualifications. By providing a solid support system for our travelers, we believe we can help travel MRI techs find the best opportunities and lead fulfilling careers.
Continued Education Requirements
The American Registry of Radiologic Technologists requires MRI techs to renew their certification once a year. Renewal due dates are always the last day of the certification holder’s birth month. Failure to renew may result in a lapse in certification, licensing, and credentials.
ARRT requires MRI techs to earn 24 continued education (CE) hours every two years (often called a biennium).
ARRT-approved continued education activities include:
- A or A+ activities approved by the RCEEM or RCEEM+
- Approved academic courses relevant to the profession
- Advanced CPR certification (ALS/ACLS or PALS)
- Authoring a published article
- Certain activities you complete for state licensing purposes
Experience
Some recent graduates may be able to get an entry-level job as an MRI tech, but employers generally prefer their employees to have prior experience as radiology techs.
To become a travel MRI tech, you may need to have one or two years of experience as a staff employee at a trusted healthcare facility.
Demand
Similar to other healthcare careers, the field of MRI technology is fast-growing and in high demand. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the job outlook for radiologic and MRI technologists is growing 6% faster than average.
Experts estimate that 15,400 more MRI technologists will be needed to meet demands by 2032.
Earning Potential
According to ZipRecruiter, the average travel MRI tech salary is around $2,120 a week. Compare this to the national salary average for non-traveling MRI techs, which is $1,705.
The top ten highest-paying cities for travel MRI techs are:
- Santa Cruz, CA: $2,609 per week
- Sunnyvale, CA: $2,572 per week
- Livermore, CA: $2,570 per week
- Arlington, VA: $2,555 per week
- Fountain Valley, CA: $2,519 per week
- St. Helens, OR: $2,492 per week
- Kent, WA: $2,490 per week
- Vacaville, CA: $2,482 per week
- Berkeley, CA: $2,468 per week
- Manhattan, NY: $2,450 per week
Start Your Travel MRI Tech Journey With Pronto
So, are you ready to pursue your future career as an MRI travel tech?
With our help, you’ll have the freedom to travel anywhere you want in the United States and advance your career as an MRI tech.
Here’s how you can start:
- Sign up for Pronto.
- Get connected with a recruiter who will be there to help you if you have any questions.
- Search on Pronto for travel MRI Tech job listings that meet your qualifications, needs, and interests.
Once you’ve found an assignment that fits your preferences and qualifications, you’ll get assigned your own Trusted Nursing team of support professionals, which includes:
- Clinical support
- Payroll and compliance experts
- Ongoing assignment advocacy
- And more
Additional perks included in your partnership with Trusted Nurse Staffing include:
- A welcome box
- $1,500 bonus for referring your friends or a facility already not employed with us
- An ambassador program where you can receive bonuses for creating content
- And more
Begin your journey as a travel MRI tech in a fun and lucrative career with Trusted Nurse Staffing and Pronto today.