POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Pre-HAART Long-Term Survivors => Topic started by: idee on October 09, 2012, 04:42:07 pm
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I was going into medical coding but there aren't many internships let alone jobs for someone just starting out.
So I have decided to give radiology technician a try. At least after my computer classes are finished in December.
I go this Thursday to meet the career specialist for the school. I still need to find out how much it costs to attend. The positive thing is they place their students in externships.
Another thing is I don't know if my HIV will keep me from becoming a radiology tech. Can they deny me employment for my health? If so who would I go to for help?
Also two doctors have told me to keep my medicaid as long as I can. So there are many things I hope will work out.
I write this on here hoping there are other professional but HIV positive persons on here who would be of help with advice.
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Hello Idee,
I work in the medical credentialing field and we develop certification exams for medical professionals.
Since you are in the field of radiology, you may want to contact the American College of Radiology (ACR) for career advice. They are a prominent and well known stateside organization. Although I don't know your location, you may find the link to the career section of the ACR web site helpful: http://www.acr.org/Search?q=careers
Good luck!
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In theory, institutions can not deny you employment because of your status. But institutions are made up of people so person/corporates prejudices come into play. Ultimately, you would not want to work in such a hostile environment.
Your HIV status can not stop you from pursuing this career.
Best luck, and pursue your desires. ;)
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Hi idee,
I was in the RAD program up until early last year, and just a word of caution... it's a particularly risky career even for someone with a healthy uncompromised immune system. To quote my instructor's words of warning to the class on the first day, "You will get puked on. You will get peed on. You will get bled on. You will get s**t on. You will get sued. And you WILL get sick."
Broken bones and the like are actually a somewhat minor part of the radiographer's job, the vast majority of the patients you'll be working with will be extremely sick and will usually have some respiratory infection or another varying from mildly contagious to highly contagious (performing chest x-rays is by far the most common task of the radiographer... so much so that it's the first thing you'll be taught and tested on). In class you'll learn about the personal safety precautions you should take to protect from getting sick yourself, but in the hospital they discourage you from using anything other than simple gloves because it 'scares' the patients.
Long story short, I only lasted about three more months in the program after my clinicals at the hospital started...
I withdrew from the program and have never regretted my decision.
Now I know there are lots of folks with HIV working in the medical field, and I'll probably get chewed out for even mentioning the health risks, but it really is something that you need to consider.