Can a Cardiovascular Technologist Make As Much As You Think?
When you get into the "meat" of Medicaljobs.org you will find a great many professions that don't require an expansive amount of schooling.
A Cardiovascular Technologist is someone who hits the room before the Doctor ever sees the patient. The amount of responsibility is a little bigger than you might think, but not impossible by any means. I think we all know that heart disease is America's #1 killer and that means you have to be "on the ball" all the time with your patients. Cardiovascular Techs monitor a patient's condition in order to inform a Doctor and that means that you are not working purely on a "per service" basis like a Doctor would. You just get paid a salary and the Hospital or Doctor's office takes care of all that crazy medical billing stuff.
If you're in the Cardiovascular Ward of a hospital and you take some overtime you're going to be able to bolster your income.
"What if they won't let me work any overtime?" Trust me, we are so short-handed in the medical community that anyone would allow you to work overtime so patient's needs can be met and holes can be filled. Now, that doesn't mean you can just work 100 hours a week and have a normal life, but you can pick up some extra income that is readily available because of the shorthanded nature of hospitals.
If you want to branch out you should get more than one job. Perhaps working at a hospital AND working at a nearby Doctor's office would benefit you. You'd be working with a Doctor who likely has privileges at the hospital and you would be invaluable to the Doctor because you have the "in" at the "big bad hospital".
Can you work this job for your whole career? Yes! Just like any other profession there are chances to move "up the ladder" AND to get promoted into management. I can say till I'm "blue in the face" that pretty much every job has the opportunity for promotion into management, but you have to look around and find out for yourself.
Look at how the departments of the hospital are run and see if you can get into some kind of supervisory role. You might even be able to be a "relief supervisor" who takes over when your boss is out. (Any little bit will help your paycheck.) But, you can't just look at a job like this and say "Well, if I want to make more money I need to be a Doctor." Being a Doctor isn't for everyone AND every job in the medical community needs to be filled. Without everyone doing their part the quality of medical care in America will steadily drop.
Don't look over the "lesser jobs" until you've seen that they can be "greater". There are immense opportunities out there if you dig a little deeper, and each of those jobs can be very rewarding!
