<p>Radiologists are the physicians (they’ve graduated medical school) who read and interpret x-rays, ultrasound, CT and MRI scans, and other imaging modalities to help treat patients. Diagnostic radiologists look at these images and help other physicians arrive at the correct diagnosis. There is a growing field in interventional radiology in which these doctors utilize real-time images to guide treatment or other diagnostic testing procedures - ie, using images to do precisely guided biopsies of tumors that are difficult to reach. They can also do things like clot off bleeding vessels by using the images to track the progress of their catheters with in vessels. </p>
<p>While they do have a pretty good lifestyle, it does take a particular type of person to be a radiologist. Staring at x-rays all day is not for everyone (the radiology reading rooms are typically dark and most people poke fun at radiologists for being afraid of daylight). Diagnostic rads have very little patient contact and don’t really “treat” anyone. They function much more to help other physicians do their jobs - which not everyone is comfortable with. Interventional radiology, as mentioned before is a growing field, which is heavily procedures based. There is a lot more patient contact, and the ability to provide treatment exists. Again this is a rapidly expanding field so the number of things that they’re capable of doing is increasing every day.</p>
<p>As more and more hospitals and clinics move to digital x-rays, there is a significant amount of outsourcing of diagnostic radiology work occurring. There are issues with this, but I believe that it’s driving a lot of the growth interventional radiology is seeing. Because of this state of flux, salaries are changing a lot.</p>