EKG Tech Salary
By an allied health world contributing writer
Published: February, 9 2010
What is the average EKG Technician Salary?
According to indeed.com, the average annual EKG Technician salary in the United States is around $35,000. Most EKG Techs are paid an hourly salary of between $9-15 per hour depending on location and size of hospital.
What are the hours like in this field?
The type of schedule an EKG Tech works depends largely on the size of the facility in which they’re employed. Most small to mid-sized facilities only staff EKG Techs during the day. An EKG tech may at times be “on call” for stress tests and respond from home.
Because EKGs are needed in an emergency there is not time for a tech to get to the hospital. Typically, in a smaller hospital, when the EKG tech leaves for the day the “EKG Pager” is passed to another hospital worker that will be on site through the night – this might be a
respiratory therapist,
phlebotomist, or another care provider trained to perform an EKG.
Is there room for advancement in this field?
Oftentimes students in school for a
cardiovascular technologist or
cardiac sonographer program work as an EKG Tech while in school. With additional schooling, an EKG Tech may decide to pursue a career in invasive cardiology, such as working in the cath lab as a
cardiovascular technician. Or they may further their education to be able to perform ultrasounds of the heart as a
cardiac sonographer. Almost any type of advancement for an EKG Tech will involve furthering their education.
What are the challenges of a job in this field?
The main challenge as an EKG Tech is obtaining a good quality EKG reading. Since some individuals are larger than others, it may be more difficult to obtain the quality data the cardiologist needs to give the patient a diagnosis or determine if surgery is necessary.
Who do EKG Techs report to?
Typically EKG Techs report to a manager of the non-invasive cardiology department in a hospital setting. Typically cardiac sonographers and those who work in cardiac rehab, working with people after surgery, also report to the manager of the non-invasive department. Other hospitals combine pulmonary with cardiac to have one cardiopulmonary unit. The reporting structure would be different in that case.
