What Is an Interventional Radiologist and How to Become One

By ZipRecruiter Marketplace Research Team

Interventional radiologists are certified physicians who work in the field of interventional radiology. The qualifications for this career include a medical degree and the completion of a fellowship focusing on interventional radiology and the procedures it includes. Physicians work with a team of professionals including an interventional radiology technologist and registered nurses who specialize in radiology. A technologist is responsible for operating the high-tech equipment used in this specialty, while a registered nurse handles documentation, laboratory operation, and pre and post-procedure contact with patients.

An interventional radiology technologist works alongside a physician and nurses specializing in interventional radiology. In this career, your primary responsibilities are to set up and operate the equipment needed for interventional radiological procedures. You also take images and position patients correctly so that these pictures work for the diagnostic aspect of this medical specialty. Educational qualifications include certification, which you must renew every two years, and completion of an approved degree program in interventional radiology. Most interventional radiologic technologists work in a hospital or clinic setting.

The duties of a registered nurse working in interventional radiology vary depending on the physician who they work with and the specific specialty of the team. If you have a two or four-year nursing degree, you need to become certified in this specialty before joining an interventional radiology team. Once you obtain certification, you may work to assess patients needs and get necessary patient information on behalf of the physician. You may also oversee laboratory or imaging procedures and assist during surgical procedures.

A radiology interventional physician is a doctor who uses medical imaging technology like an x-ray or MRI machine to diagnose patients, pinpoint the source of their condition, and perform minimally invasive surgery or other procedures to correct the problem. In this career, the range of procedures you perform is always expanding because the recovery time is short and most patients can leave the same day as their surgery. This makes interventional radiology much less expensive than traditional procedures, so more and more patients and doctors are opting for this route. In this career, you may treat tumors, take organ biopsies, install stents in veins, or even perform targeted chemotherapy on cancerous tissues.