Career Opportunities

As part of the health care team, neurodiagnostic technologists record electrical activity arising from the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves using a variety of techniques and instruments. This involves preparing patients for procedures, obtaining medical histories, recording electrical potentials, calculating results, and maintaining equipment. They develop a good rapport with patients and comfort them during the recording procedure, which can last from 20 minutes (for a single nerve conduction study) to 8 hours (for an overnight sleep study) to multiple days of long-term monitoring in an epilepsy unit or intensive care unit.

Neurodiagnostic technologists are trained to understand neurophysiology and recognize normal and abnormal waveform patterns. They act as the eyes and ears for specially trained doctors who review and interpret the data they record. Considerable individual initiative, reasoning skill, and sound judgment are all expected of the neurodiagnostic professional.

Employment opportunities

• Neurodiagnostic technologist work in hospitals, physician offices and clinics.
• Job titles: Neurodiagnostic technologists may move up the career ladder to become a Long-term Monitoring Technologist, Intraoperative Monitoring Technologist, Lead-Technologist, or  Neurodiagnostics Department Manager.
• According to the American Job Center’s 2017 data, an estimated 128,000 Neurodiagnostic technologists were working in 2016, and job growth for NDT technologists was projected to be faster than average at 15% or higher, with projected new job openings of 11,000 in the decade of 2016 to 2026 (American Job Center, 2017).
• In the 2015 ASET Salary and Benefit Survey 22% of labs reporting stated they plan to expand services and hire more staff.

Median Salary 

R. EEG T.	$58,000
R. EP T.	$64,000
R. NCS T.	$58,000
CNIM	$79,000
Associate’s Degree	$61,000

* Salary information taken from the ASET 2015 Salary and Benefit Survey

Additional Resources

• ASET – The Neurodiagnostic Society (ASET): www.aset.org
• American Board of Registration of Electroencephalographic and Evoked Potential Technologists (ABRET): www.abret.org
• American Association of Electrodiagnostic Technologists (AAET): https://www.aaet.info
• American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine: https://www.aanem.org/Education/Education-for-Technologists
• Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Programs: www.caahep.org
• Committee on Accreditation for Education in Neurodiagnostic Technology (CoA-NDT):  www.CoA-NDT.org
• Tennessee Neurodiagnostic Society: https://tnsociety.org/
• Organization of Societies of Electrophysiological Technology (OSET): http://www.oset.org