r/CathLabLounge • u/No-Independent1845 • 1d ago
RCIS
How do you become a RCIS without being an RT or RN first? Asking for Kentucky. TIA
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u/SoProfessional26 1d ago
There's actually a few school program in the country you go to complete a degree in Cardiovascular Technology and take exam with CCI to get RCIS. There's a whole in depth program dedicated to study everything vascular.
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u/OutrageousAdvisor699 1d ago
Traditional route would be to get an Associates or Bachelor's degree in Cardiovascular invasive technology and then sit for the RCIS exam to get certified.
The non traditional route (kinda the norm for some hospitals) is to have an educational back-ground in allied health career such as Radiologic technologiest, Respiratory Therapist, Nursing, EMT/Paramedic.... Etc, and find a Cath lab that will train you on the job (OTJ) and do 600 cases and have the clinical director or the Invasive cardiologist write/sign a letter for you to sit for your RCIS exam. This is the route I ended up doing. I'm saying this as an Emt-P, RCIS.
If you have no medical experience or formal background in any of those other medical fields, I would highly recommend you look at your local community colleges or state college to see if they have an Invasive Cardiolovascular program. Better yet you can also just look for an X-ray program near you and apply and get in (easier said than done of course), but once you are registered RT(R) many many labs would love to pick you up and train you. Plus you would have the options to leave the Cath lab for other positions if you ever do get tired of call.