Top 12 MRI Technologist Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today's competitive healthcare job market, MRI Technologists must showcase a blend of technical prowess, patient care abilities, and collaborative skills on their resumes to stand out. This article spotlights the top 12 skills MRI Technologists should highlight to show well-rounded expertise and readiness for the demands of modern imaging.

MRI Technologist Skills

1. MRI Safety
2. Patient Positioning
3. Cross-Sectional Anatomy
4. Siemens MAGNETOM
5. GE Signa
6. Philips Ingenia
7. Contrast Administration
8. PACS Proficiency
9. ARRT Certification
10. Image Quality Assessment
11. MR Physics
12. Coil Utilization

1. MRI Safety

MRI Safety covers the protocols and procedures that keep patients, staff, and equipment safe during MR exams. It means rigorous screening for contraindications, controlling access to the magnet environment, using proper hearing protection, and educating everyone who crosses the threshold.

Why It's Important

Safety isn’t optional. It prevents projectile incidents, burns, and acoustic injury, protecting people while preserving equipment and workflow.

How to Improve MRI Safety Skills

Leveling up safety takes vigilance, education, and practice.

1. Stay current: Refresh knowledge regularly with guidance from organizations such as the American College of Radiology (ACR).

2. Screen like a hawk: Use robust screening forms for patients and anyone entering the room. Reference resources from groups such as the Institute for Magnetic Resonance Safety, Education, and Research (IMRSER).

3. Own the zones: Enforce the four-zone model. The Joint Commission’s standards can help shape policies.

4. Drill for emergencies: Practice quench procedures, code response, and safe evacuation. The Society for MR Radiographers & Technologists (SMRT) provides helpful training materials.

5. Communicate relentlessly: Clear briefings, visible signage, and repeat reminders reduce risk. Resources like MRISafety.com offer practical guidance.

6. Keep learning: Pursue continuing education and safety credentials through organizations such as the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT).

Small habits, big wins. Safety culture shows up in the details.

How to Display MRI Safety Skills on Your Resume

2. Patient Positioning

Patient positioning means placing the patient accurately and comfortably to center the anatomy of interest and reduce motion, while honoring safety and comfort.

Why It's Important

Good positioning sharpens images, cuts artifacts, trims scan time, and lowers repeat rates. It protects patients and improves diagnostic confidence.

How to Improve Patient Positioning Skills

1. Set expectations upfront: Explain the plan, stress stillness, and address anxiety. Patient-friendly explanations help.

2. Use positioning aids: Cushions, pads, straps, knee bolsters—comfort is motion control by another name. Vendors like Canon Medical Systems showcase useful accessories.

3. Hit isocenter: Align the target at magnet isocenter. Follow anatomy-specific landmarks—guidance from the National Institutes of Health and similar bodies can reinforce technique.

4. Practice deliberately: Refine methods through ongoing education from groups like ARRT.

5. Seek feedback: Review images with radiologists. Use ACR-aligned quality improvement approaches to tune your technique.

Comfort first, alignment second, stillness throughout.

How to Display Patient Positioning Skills on Your Resume

3. Cross-Sectional Anatomy

Cross-sectional anatomy is the map in your head of axial, coronal, and sagittal anatomy. Knowing how structures change slice to slice unlocks accurate protocols and better scans.

Why It's Important

Precision matters. Recognizing organs, vessels, nerves, and variants in multiple planes reduces misses and elevates diagnostic clarity.

How to Improve Cross-Sectional Anatomy Skills

1. Study widely: Dive into imaging libraries such as Radiopaedia or anatomy platforms like Kenhub.

2. Use interactive tools: 3D anatomy software (for example, AnatomyLearning) cements spatial awareness.

3. Trust the atlases: Netter’s and Thieme atlases—with cross-sectional views—are staples. Publishers like Elsevier carry them.

4. Attend focused CE: Workshops from organizations like ASRT target technologists’ needs.

5. Learn from cases: Case libraries such as MRI Online sharpen the eye with practical pearls.

6. Compare notes: Study groups, forums, even communities like the Radiology subreddit can spark insight.

7. Ask radiologists: Quick reviews post-scan build the pattern library fast.

Repetition turns anatomy into instinct.

How to Display Cross-Sectional Anatomy Skills on Your Resume

4. Siemens MAGNETOM

Siemens MAGNETOM is a family of MRI systems built for high performance, with flexible coils, strong gradients, and smart workflow tools for many clinical tasks.

Why It's Important

For technologists, it means dependable image quality, efficient throughput, and features that help standardize scans without losing finesse.

How to Improve Siemens MAGNETOM Skills

1. Train with intent: Tap into Siemens Healthineers Academy and internal in-services to master features.

2. Tune protocols: Optimize sequences for your patient mix. Use tools like GOBrain for rapid neuro work when appropriate, while confirming diagnostic needs.

3. Leverage syngo MR: Explore syngo MR applications to streamline post-processing and reporting handoffs.

4. Use Tim 4G and Dot: Total imaging matrix and Day optimizing throughput can reduce variability and speed up exams when thoughtfully configured.

5. Share tips: MAGNETOM user groups and peer communities are goldmines of practical tweaks.

6. Maintain faithfully: Keep software and hardware current through scheduled service to avoid drifts and downtime.

Consistency grows from good protocols, training, and upkeep.

How to Display Siemens MAGNETOM Skills on Your Resume

5. GE Signa

GE Signa encompasses a broad line of MRI systems known for robust imaging performance and wide clinical coverage.

Why It's Important

It delivers dependable image quality and tools that help technologists adapt protocols to varied patients and indications.

How to Improve GE Signa Skills

1. Keep software current: Up-to-date software brings better reconstruction, noise handling, and efficiency.

2. Protect the hardware: Regular service, calibration, and cryogen monitoring keep gradients and RF chains in tune.

3. Care for coils: Inspect, test, and match coils to exams. Proper handling preserves SNR and uptime.

4. Refine protocols: Start from your department’s protocol library, then iterate with radiologist feedback.

5. Position precisely: Small alignment fixes often yield big quality gains.

6. Pursue CE: Courses and case reviews (such as MRI Online) deepen comfort with advanced techniques.

7. Close the loop: Meet with radiologists to tie image quality back to diagnostic needs.

Thoughtful protocol grooming makes a visible difference.

How to Display GE Signa Skills on Your Resume

6. Philips Ingenia

Philips Ingenia systems use digital broadband technology to push signal clarity and workflow smoothness, with patient-friendly design.

Why It's Important

High SNR, shorter scans, wider bores—these factors reduce repeats and elevate patient experience while strengthening diagnostic confidence.

How to Improve Philips Ingenia Skills

1. Update regularly: Software upgrades bring refinements in reconstruction and new features.

2. Train deeply: Philips Learning Academy offerings help unlock advanced options that often go underused.

3. Optimize protocols: Use dStream advantages, adjust parameters for your population, and document the “why” behind each tweak.

4. Schedule maintenance: Calibration and preventive service prevent quality drift and surprise downtime.

5. Use advanced tools: Features like MultiVane XD for motion and 3D APT (when available) can sharpen results in tricky cases.

6. Collaborate: Tap community forums and internal peer networks for Ingenia-specific pearls.

Great systems still need great operators—training closes the gap.

How to Display Philips Ingenia Skills on Your Resume

7. Contrast Administration

Contrast administration involves delivering gadolinium-based agents to enhance tissue characterization, vascular detail, and lesion conspicuity during MRI.

Why It's Important

Proper use of contrast sharpens differentiation between normal and abnormal, guiding diagnosis and treatment planning.

How to Improve Contrast Administration Skills

1. Know your agents: Understand macrocyclic vs linear agents, indications, and risk profiles.

2. Screen thoroughly: Check renal function (eGFR), allergies, and pregnancy status. For most patients with eGFR ≥30, macrocyclic agents are generally considered low risk; coordinate with radiology policy for those with advanced kidney disease.

3. Dose correctly: Follow weight-based dosing and site protocols; double-check entries before injection.

4. Secure access: Use sound IV technique and verify patency to avoid extravasation.

5. Monitor and respond: Watch for immediate reactions and have a plan for managing them. Document clearly.

6. Educate patients: Set expectations (warmth, metallic taste), and provide post-care guidance; breastfeeding usually need not be interrupted after GBCA per contemporary guidelines.

7. Hydration guidance: Encourage fluids post-scan when appropriate to aid clearance.

Precision dosing, vigilant screening, calm communication—smooth and safe.

How to Display Contrast Administration Skills on Your Resume

8. PACS Proficiency

PACS proficiency means knowing how to archive, retrieve, route, and annotate images and reports cleanly across systems and sites.

Why It's Important

Faster, cleaner image flow supports timely reads, fewer bottlenecks, and tighter collaboration with radiologists and clinicians.

How to Improve PACS Proficiency Skills

1. Take structured training: Use vendor modules or RSNA-style tutorials focused on technologist workflows.

2. Practice the routine tasks: Batch send, prefetch, reconcile studies, handle corrections—repetition builds speed.

3. Read your manual: Each PACS has quirks; the manufacturer’s guide answers a surprising number of head-scratchers.

4. Join peer forums: Communities such as AuntMinnie or internal IT channels often hold quick fixes and clever workarounds.

5. Attend workshops: Short sessions pay off in fewer resends and cleaner data.

Good PACS habits reduce chaos on busy days.

How to Display PACS Proficiency Skills on Your Resume

9. ARRT Certification

ARRT Certification in MRI is a credential from the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists that validates education, ethics, and exam success in MRI practice.

Why It's Important

It signals verified competency and adherence to national standards, strengthening job prospects and trust.

How to Improve ARRT Certification Skills

1. Complete approved education: Enroll in an ARRT-recognized MRI program. ARRT Recognized Educational Programs

2. Meet clinical requirements: Log required procedures accurately. ARRT Clinical Experience Requirements

3. Study strategically: Use the ARRT content specifications and practice exams. ARRT Exam Content Specifications

4. Maintain your credential: Complete 24 CE credits every two years; complete Continuing Qualification Requirements (CQR) if applicable. ARRT Continuing Education and CQR

5. Honor ethics standards: Know the code, report issues, and document compliance. ARRT Standards of Ethics

Credentialing isn’t one-and-done—keep it active, keep it honest.

How to Display ARRT Certification Skills on Your Resume

10. Image Quality Assessment

Image Quality Assessment (IQA) is the quick, disciplined check of sharpness, contrast, artifacts, coverage, and sequence appropriateness before you send the patient home.

Why It's Important

It prevents preventable repeats, supports accurate reads, and keeps throughput from grinding to a halt.

How to Improve Image Quality Assessment Skills

1. Standardize: Use ACR-aligned QC checklists so every study gets the same scrutiny.

2. Dial parameters wisely: Adjust TE, TR, FOV, matrix, and slice thickness to the clinical question and patient size.

3. Position perfectly: Good positioning beats noise reduction after the fact.

4. Use contrast judiciously: When indicated, contrast can unlock crucial detail.

5. Maintain the system: Regular calibrations and service limit hardware artifacts before they sneak in.

6. Post-process appropriately: Use vendor post-processing tools or approved platforms (for example, 3D Slicer or Horos/OsiriX where permitted) to reduce noise and refine views.

7. Keep learning: Ongoing CE on advanced sequences and reconstruction methods pays dividends.

Fast, consistent checks save time later.

How to Display Image Quality Assessment Skills on Your Resume

11. MR Physics

MR Physics focuses on how magnetic fields and radiofrequency energy interact with hydrogen nuclei to produce signal—no ionizing radiation involved. It underpins sequence behavior, artifacts, and safety.

Why It's Important

Understanding the “why” behind the knobs lets you predict trade-offs, fix artifacts on the fly, and tailor protocols to the patient in front of you.

How to Improve MR Physics Skills

1. Study fundamentals: Relaxation (T1/T2), proton density, flip angles, gradients, k-space, SNR, and artifacts.

2. Take structured courses: CE modules and institutional classes make complex ideas stick.

3. Join professional groups: Organizations like ARMRIT and ASRT offer workshops and networking with seasoned pros.

4. Simulate and experiment: Use vendor simulators or training modes to see how parameter changes move the needle.

5. Read widely: Journals such as Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging keep you current.

Clarity in physics translates to cleaner images and calmer troubleshooting.

How to Display MR Physics Skills on Your Resume

12. Coil Utilization

Coil utilization is the deliberate selection and placement of the best coil for the anatomy and sequence, aimed at maximizing SNR and efficiency.

Why It's Important

Right coil, right place, right parameter set—better images, shorter exams, happier patients, fewer repeats.

How to Improve Coil Utilization Skills

1. Pick the proper coil: Use anatomy-specific coils or high-channel arrays to boost SNR.

2. Center the target: Put the region of interest at the coil’s sweet spot (and the magnet’s isocenter when possible).

3. Match parameters to the coil: Adjust FOV, matrix, acceleration factors, and slice planning to the coil geometry.

4. Care and maintenance: Regular inspections and functional tests catch cable or element issues early; log problems fast.

5. Stay updated: Learn the strengths and limits of newer coil designs and parallel imaging techniques through CE and vendor sessions.

Coils aren’t just accessories—they’re the front end of image quality.

How to Display Coil Utilization Skills on Your Resume