A hospital radiologic technologist takes X-rays, and often CT scans, for ER, inpatient and outpatient patients. The images go to a radiologist who may read them from far away. After hours, the tech is often alone in the building and takes call from home for ER exams.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
We're hiring a radiologic technologist to perform X-ray exams for ED, inpatient, outpatient and clinic patients [and CT scans, if trained]. In a small hospital, you may be the only tech in the building after hours, so you'll take call, do portable exams in the ED and patient rooms, and send clean images for remote radiologist reads.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Perform X-ray exams [and CT scans, where trained and credentialed] from provider orders, following department protocols.
Do portable exams in the ED and patient rooms, including during codes and trauma activations.
Confirm the order and two patient identifiers before every exam, and check pregnancy status and, for contrast exams, allergies.
Follow radiation safety rules: use protocols and collimation, wear your dosimetry badge, and keep exposure as low as reasonably achievable.
Send images to PACS for teleradiology reads, and call critical findings to the provider as your policy requires.
Run daily equipment checks and quality control, and report problems to the manager and service vendor.
Clean the imaging room and equipment between patients, including isolation patients.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Check the schedule and order queue for outpatient, inpatient and ED exams.
Position patients safely, including patients in pain, in cervical collars or on backboards.
Answer ED pages for stat exams, including on call after hours.
Share images with receiving hospitals for transfers [by image share or disc].
Log exams and repeats, and record dose information where your equipment tracks it.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
ED exam turnaround time: [your target].
Repeat exam rate: [your target].
Patient ID and order errors: [your target].
Call-in response time: [your target].
Quality control checks completed: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
ARRT registration in radiography, and a state radiography license where your state requires.
Graduate of an accredited radiography program.
Current BLS certification.
Working knowledge of radiation safety, positioning and image quality.
Ability to take call and reach the hospital within [time] of a page.
6. Preferred Experience
ARRT certification in CT, or CT experience and interest in cross-training.
Experience in a small or rural hospital, working alone on call.
Experience with PACS and teleradiology workflows.
Ultrasound, mammography or MRI cross-training [if your hospital offers it].
7. Physical Requirements
Stand and walk for most of the shift, and wear a lead apron during portable and fluoroscopy work.
Move portable X-ray units and help position or transfer patients up to [50] pounds with help or lift devices.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
[8 or 12]-hour shifts with call for nights, weekends and holidays: [rotation].
Work around ionizing radiation, with dosimetry monitoring and protective gear.
Exposure to infectious disease and trauma patients in the ED, with PPE provided.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new radiologic technologist gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
What's different about radiography at a critical access hospital
Radiographers everywhere position patients and keep dose low. Here, the tech also works alone, often covers CT, and gets images to a distant reader and a receiving hospital fast.
One tech for the whole building after hours
On nights and weekends, the tech on call may be the only imaging person for the ER, the inpatient unit and any code. That means portable chest X-rays in the trauma room, side views on a patient who can't sit up, and deciding alone whether an image is good enough to send. Ask candidates about the last time they worked with no other tech to ask.
CT often comes with the job
In a small hospital, radiographers often learn CT on the job. ARRT's CT credential takes three things: a credential in an approved supporting field, such as ARRT radiography, set coursework, and a logged list of clinical CT exams. Then comes the exam. ARRT's 2022 rules ran through August 31, 2026, and new versions apply now, so check them before you plan someone's training. Source: ARRT: computed tomography credential.
The radiologist reads from somewhere else
Images go out through PACS to radiologists at another site, often a reading group under contract. The remote radiologist sees only what the tech sends. So a clear history, the right views and the right patient details all matter. When the ER sends a patient on to a bigger hospital, the tech pushes the images there by image share, or burns a disc to go with the patient.
A state license is separate from ARRT
Most states have laws licensing radiologic technologists, and some want ARRT certification and registration first. ARRT warns that its credential doesn't by itself make someone eligible to work in a given state. Before a new hire's first shift, check their state license as well as their ARRT card, and do it again for travel techs from out of state. Source: ARRT: state licensing.
Patients who can't move much
ER patients may arrive on a backboard, in a neck collar, or in too much pain to turn. The tech has to get usable images without moving an injured spine or limb more than the provider allows, often with a nurse and a slide board. Swing bed and nursing home patients bring their own work, such as stiff joints and fragile skin.
How much hospital radiologic technologists make
The closest BLS group for hospital radiologic technologists is radiologic technologists and technicians. Radiologic technologists and technicians who work for general medical and surgical hospitals earned a median of $38.75 an hour ($80,610 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about the same as the $80,110 median for radiologic technologists and technicians in all industries. About 135,290 of the 230,490 radiologic technologists and technicians in that survey work for general hospitals.
Hourly, plus a standby rate for each call shift and a higher rate for hours worked once called in. A CT credential or a second imaging skill can earn a step up.
General hospitals
$80,610$80,610 median Middle half $65,680–$99,360 10th–90th $59,410–$112,320
All industries
$80,110$80,110 median Middle half $64,810–$98,750 10th–90th $55,980–$118,660
$25k$50k$75k$100k$125k$150k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
General hospitals
$59,410
$65,680
$80,610
$99,360
$112,320
All industries
$55,980
$64,810
$80,110
$98,750
$118,660
These figures cover general medical and surgical hospitals of every size. Rural hospitals often pay less than city hospitals. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Gets usable trauma images without moving the patient more than allowed
Judges image quality on the spot and repeats only when it's needed
Works call alone and stays steady in a code or a trauma
Checks two identifiers and the order before every exam
Explains each exam simply to patients who are hurting or scared
Teach these on the job
CT protocols and your scanner
Your PACS, RIS and image-sharing steps for transfers
Your call rules and how to reach the on-call provider
Fluoroscopy or C-arm work, if your hospital does it
Daily QC checks on your units
Expect a digital X-ray room, a portable unit, often a CT scanner, a PACS linked to the reading group, and a dosimetry badge for each tech. Tell candidates whether techs inject contrast for CT and whether they run a C-arm.
Use your own exam logs to set each target. A rural ER's volume rises and falls with the seasons, so compare like months.
ED exam turnaround time
Minutes from the ER order until the images reach PACS, from RIS or EHR time stamps. Track in-house shifts and call shifts on their own.
Repeat exam rate
Repeated images divided by exams, with each repeat logged by reason, such as positioning, motion or exposure. Go over the reasons with each tech, not just the total.
Patient ID and order errors
Count exams done on the wrong patient, the wrong body part or without a matching order, plus near misses caught in time. Review each one the week it happens.
Call-in response time
Minutes from page to the tech's arrival, from the paging log and time clock. Compare each call with the limit in your call policy.
Quality control checks completed
QC checks done and logged on each unit, from the QC log. Missed checks on weekends and holidays are the ones to watch.
Career path
Radiography studentClinical rotations in an accredited program, sometimes at this hospital.
Radiologic TechnologistDoes X-ray exams, portables and call.
CT technologistEarns ARRT's CT credential and covers scans on call.
Multimodality or lead techAdds MRI, ultrasound or mammography, or leads the shift.
How does a radiologic technologist keep ARRT credentials current?
ARRT registration renews each year by the end of the tech's birth month. Every other year, the tech also reports 24 approved continuing education credits. Techs certified on or after January 1, 2011, must also meet ARRT's Continuing Qualifications Requirements every 10 years. That means a self-assessment, then any courses ARRT assigns. If it isn't finished, ARRT ends the credential. Track the dates so a lapse doesn't pull a tech off your call list.
How much does a hospital radiologic technologist make?
Radiologic technologists and technicians who work for general medical and surgical hospitals earned a median of $38.75 an hour ($80,610 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $65,680 and $99,360 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
Can a radiologic technologist start an IV for CT contrast?
Your state and your policy decide. ASRT's radiography practice standards list starting, maintaining and removing IV access when a licensed practitioner orders it. ASRT also says state law, accreditation standards and facility policy can set the limits and may override its standards. Write down who may place IVs and inject contrast, what training they need, and who must be on hand, and have the medical staff approve it.
Can a radiographer do mammograms?
Only after more training. Federal MQSA rules say a mammography tech needs a state X-ray license or a general certification from an approved body. They also need at least 40 hours of mammography training. Those hours must include at least 25 exams done under direct supervision and at least 8 hours on each type of mammography unit they use. Rules for ongoing education and experience follow.
Can a limited X-ray operator cover our ER?
Check your state first. Some states license limited X-ray machine operators, and ARRT runs a Limited Scope of Practice in Radiography exam that states use for that license. What a limited operator may do, and where, is up to your state. ER work runs from chest X-rays to trauma and portables, so plan on a full radiographer for call unless your state allows otherwise.
Should a newly registered tech take call alone?
Not right away. Pair a newly registered tech with an experienced tech for their first stretch of call, or keep them on day shifts until they have done traumas, ER portables and CT, if you offer it. Write down what they should do when an exam is beyond them, such as calling the radiology manager.
