As an IR tech, you’re used to the buzz of the hospital as you carry out your day-to-day responsibilities. You understand the venous system, like the back of your hand, and have always been fascinated with just how much you can learn from someone’s veins.
But your days often end in a dredge. You love what you do, but you want to feel the same rush you felt as a budding IR tech who has freshly graduated from college.
Why not give travel working a go?
As a travel IR tech, you’ll explore different locations and opportunities as you provide vital care. Interested in all of the fine details? Keep reading to explore the responsibilities, requirements, salaries, and more of a travel IR tech.
Table of Contents
- What Is an IR Tech?
- 4 Benefits of Working as a Travel IR Tech
- How To Become a Travel IR Tech: A Look at Skills, Qualifications, Demand, and Earning Potential
- Start Your Travel IR Tech Journey With Pronto
What Is an IR Tech?
An interventional radiology tech is a specialized radiologic technologist who assists physicians with mildly invasive procedures that guide instruments through patients’ blood vessels and organs for diagnosis and treatment. Some procedures involving IR techs include:
- Angioplasty
- Angiography
- Biopsies
- Intravascular ultrasounds
- Gastronomy tubes
- Image-guided thermal ablation
- Stent placements
- Thrombolysis
- And more
Tasks of a travel IR tech include:
- Educating patients on procedures and providing reassurance
- Setting up sterile equipment trays
- Reviewing patient medical records and assessment results
- Keeping a sterile environment
- Positioning patients correctly for procedures
- Monitoring patient vital signs
- Helping operate fluoroscopic equipment
- Capturing images
- Obtaining samples for lab testing
Travel IR techs take assignments all over the country in inpatient and outpatient facilities. As a travel IR tech, you’ll be supporting staff nurses and mitigating the healthcare labor shortage one assignment at a time.
4 Benefits of Working as a Travel IR Tech
#1: Getting To Travel
As a travel IR tech, you get to combine your love for your career with your passion for traveling!
As one of the few industries that offers travel work assignments, the healthcare industry is overflowing with hard-working professionals who support facilities in dire need of specialized healthcare workers. If you would like a change of pace with your career and to experience life all over the United States — life as a travel IR tech is just the one for you.
Plus, you’re essentially getting paid to travel (with a little work in between). But instead of briefly visiting a cool spot for vacation, allied health travel professionals get life in their preferred destinations for up to 6, 8, or 13 weeks, which is plenty of time to venture out and fully experience the location.
Trusted Nurse Staffing understands that it can be tedious to continually look for travel IR tech jobs with a recruiting agency. That’s why we created Pronto: to make it even easier for allied health professionals to find travel opportunities nationwide. Sign up and start scrolling for your dream assignment today.
#2: Job Flexibility
Travel IR techs can choose where and when they want to work and for how much. Just imagine: one month, you could be working in a bustling city at a facility with leading radiology experts and the next at a small outpatient center in a rural community. The choice is up to you.
Working as a travel IR tech also means you can plan your life better. For example, you could take contracts back to back to make a lot of money or plan your timeline to align with significant events or vacations. No more having to watch how you spend your PTO.
As a travel IR tech with Trusted Nurse Staffing, you can attend your cousin’s destination wedding and visit your family for Christmas.
We also offer our allied health travel professionals exceptional contract management assistance. So, if you have special plans for how you would like to work, just let us know, and we’ll make it happen.
#3: Professional Growth
As an interventional radiologic technologist, you’ll need exposure to new challenges and settings to develop new skills and nurture your talent. Becoming a travel IR tech may expand your horizons while helping you cultivate a deeper understanding of the radiological field.
Whether you’re using the latest, cutting-edge technology, working with the industry’s top minds, or working with a diverse range of cases, traveling as an IR tech gives you plenty of opportunities to grow and thrive in and out of work.
#4: Networking Opportunities
While working and traveling the country at various facilities, you’ll get to add more to your resume as you mix and mingle with top minds in the field. As you expand your network, you’ll have countless opportunities for your next endeavors.
And why should networking be just about work? You’ll have plenty of opportunities to meet new people, some of which may become great friends.
How To Become a Travel IR Tech: A Look at Skills, Qualifications, Demand, and Earning Potential
Skills
As a travel IR tech, you’ll need to possess certain skills, such as:
- Technical proficiency
- Good interpersonal and communication abilities
- High level of attention to detail
- Resilience and adaptability
Education
Interventional radiology technologists must obtain an associate’s degree program in radiology or a bachelor’s degree in medical radiology. The program must be accredited by the American Registry for Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) and involve classroom and clinical experience.
Certification and Licensure
Once you’ve completed the radiology program of your choice, you’ll need to be certified through the ARRT. To obtain the certification, you’ll need to:
- Submit proof of your educational eligibility requirements, including your Didactic and Clinical Competency Requirements.
- Pass the ARRT ethical requirements.
- Pass the ARRT certification exam for interventional radiology.
- Become licensed in the state you wish to practice in (depending on where).
Currently, 75% of states require a license (separate from your ARRT certification) to practice as an IR tech, which means travel IR techs will need to obtain a license in each state where they get a contract.
Experience
To become a travel IR tech, you may need one to two years of clinical experience for recruiting agencies and facilities to consider you as a candidate. At Trusted Nurse Staffing, we encourage our allied health professionals to have at least one year of experience.
Demand
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BSL), the need to fill travel IR tech jobs is expected to grow 6% from 2022 to 2032.
The demand for Interventional Radiology Technologists is growing at a staggering rate.
According to the Interventional Radiology Market, the value of the IR industry is expected to reach $42.7 billion from 2023 to 2032, which reflects a 5% CARG. To support this expansion, the industry will need more IR techs and even more travel IR techs to compensate for the lack of labor in more remote areas of the United States. The need for more qualified travel IR techs will also continue to soar as more hospitals and outpatient centers adopt IR procedures and expand patient access.
According to current data trends, the volume of interventional radiology procedures is expected to increase by 8% annually, due to:
- Aging population: With over 56 million Americans aged 65 or older, there is a need for less invasive procedures to treat conditions like stroke and cancer.
- Advancements in technology: Ongoing innovations such as robot-assisted IR procedures and AI image-guiding systems are expanding the range of conditions that can be diagnosed via radiology technology.
- Shift toward outpatient care: As healthcare systems turn to value-based care and cost-efficient models, more IR procedures are frequently performed in outpatient settings. In fact, more than 40% of all IR procedures are performed in outpatient imaging centers.
Earning Potential
The average travel intervention radiology tech makes around $1,621 per week. Keep in mind that the money you make as a travel IR tech may depend on:
- Location
- Your qualifications
- Facility type
The top five highest-paying cities for travel IR techs include:
- San Jose, CA: $2,037 per week
- San Francisco, CA: $2,026 per week
- Oakland, CA: $1,978 per week
- New York, NY: $1,893 per week
- Queens Village, NY: $1,880 per week
The top five highest-paying states for travel IR techs are:
- District of Columbia: $1,804 per week
- California: $1,788 per week
- New Jersey: $1,776 per week
- Alaska: $1,765 per week
- Massachusetts: $1,763 per week
Start Your Travel IR Tech Journey With Pronto
Are you ready to diversify your career and jump into your first travel IR tech job?
Before you spend needless hours sorting through the best jobs on your own, consider working for Trusted Nurse Staffing through our Allied Health program. With our help and our innovative travel job-finding solution, Pronto, you’ll be able to begin your journey with just a few clicks of a button.
Here’s how you can get started:
- Sign up.
- Get matched with a recruiter who will be there to help you if you have any questions.
- Search for travel IR tech job listings that meet your requirements, qualifications, and preferences.
Once you’ve found an assignment that is an ideal match, we’ll assign you assigned your own Trusted Nursing support team, which includes:
- Clinical support
- Payroll and compliance experts
- Ongoing assignment advocacy
- And more
Additional bonus benefits featured in your partnership with Trusted Nurse Staffing include:
- A welcome box
- $1500 bonus for referring your friends or a facility that is not already partnered with us
- An ambassador program where you can receive bonuses for creating robust content as a travel IR tech
- And more
What are you waiting for? Kick off your journey toward a lucrative career by exploring travel IR tech jobs via Pronto today.