This is another question I get asked a lot. It is a hard question to answer in full thanks to the ambiguity of the ASRT and ARRT.
Short answer: 24 months and you become an ARRT licensed Radiographer with an associate’s degree.
The long answer: depends on what kind of radiographer you want to be.
You see, the ASRT and ARRT allow for a “Limited Practice” radiographer.
This career option does not require as much school as a traditional ARRT fully licensed radiographer… yet they are both called “radiographers.”
It could be as little as 15 weeks… 15 WEEKS!
LPT – Licensed Practical Technologist
For the purpose of this post, I decided it was finally time to get into the weeds on these “Practical Techs.”
That’s what I always heard them referred to in the Arizona market.
PRTs or Practical Xray Techs were radiographers in the title but were not allowed to image every part of the body, according to their Scope of Practice.
20 years ago, I was told they could only image extremities or arms and legs.
They were not allowed to image abdomens or heads. I never met any so I didn’t have any interest in researching it.
Current Titles Include Limited Xray Machine Operator
The ASRT acknowledges the LXMO or Limited Xray Machine Operator.
“The ASRT defines a limited x-ray machine operator (LXMO) as an individual other than a radiologic technologist who performs diagnostic x-ray procedures on selected anatomical sites. ”
Nowhere in their Essential Education Curriculum does it stipulate how many months/years a program must be to qualify as a training institution.
It has recommendations on how many hours each module should have for education competencies but they are only recommendations.
The ARRT states that both types of radiographers have the same knowledge – “It is the philosophy of the ARRT that an individual licensed is competent.”
How Long It Takes to Really Learn Radiography
24 months, period…end of story.
The hundreds of websites on the internet proclaiming less time than that are using clickbait to get you to their website.
The only licensing body for Rad Techs is the ARRT.
The Association for Registered Radiologic Technologist.
hey set the rules for becoming a Rad Tech.
There are three criteria that MUST be satisfied to be licensed: Educational, Ethical and the Board Exam.
The Educational requirement includes earning an associate’s degree or higher AND completing an ACCREDITED radiography program.
There are 736 radiography programs throughout the United States.
If you are reading this because you were searching the internet to find more information on the career of radiography, please use due diligence and look at the source of your information.
Is is a website that makes money from referring people to sign up at a school?
If it is, odds are they know NOTHING about the program you are looking for.
They have very little interest other than to get you to go sign up for more information from the school.
That’s how they make money… by referrals.
Let’s look at some examples:
GetEducated.com is a 21-year-old website that gets roughly 6,000 page views each day. When I did a search for the same question I used in the title of this post “How Long Do You Go To School To Become A Radiology Tech,” they were the first search engine result that Google produced.
Here is what they say:
“You can become an x-ray tech, short for x-ray technologist, by following a specific course designed to allow you to take x-rays. Generally, the subject material is simpler and shorter than radiologic technologist education. It takes, on average, 14 months to complete an x-ray technologist course versus two years to obtain a radiology technologist associate’s degree.”
That is complete garbage. Radiographers and Xray Techs are the same thing. Only if the word “limited” is used in the title is it referring to something trained differently than a radiographer.
Stick with trusted sites to get accurate information.
