Staffing blues: Where have all the RTs gone?

Technologist staffing is adequate for general radiologic exams in less than half of all hospitals, according to preliminary results of a radiologic technologist productivity survey released May 4 at the SCAR meeting.

The larger the hospital, the greater the perception of inadequate technologist staffing. About two thirds of institutions with more than 200 beds reported shortages. University hospitals have the greatest staffing inadequacies (88%), compared with community hospitals (58%).

RT shortages are likely to get worse. A recent American Hospital Association survey found that the RT vacancy rate is 15.3%. In a survey conducted by the American Healthcare Radiology Administrators, only 42% of hospital-based radiology administrators reported adequate technologist staffing. An average of 2.8 full-time-equivalent positions were unfilled for general radiography alone per facility.

Hospitals can institute several solutions to alleviate the RT staffing shortage: improving compensation, enhancing the perception of RT as a career choice, improving RT productivity through workflow optimization, and implementing new tools, such as PACS and HIS/RIS.

PACS appears to be intimately related to productivity, not always positively. The survey found that RT productivity dips about 10% in the first year after PACS implementation, although the decrease reverses in the second year.

Data were collected from 112 community (72%), university (8%), pediatric (3%), and government (7%) hospitals, as well as high-volume outpatient imaging centers (10%).