by
Brendon Nafziger, DOTmed News Associate Editor | May 19, 2011
Open positions for radiation therapists and medical dosimetrists continue to dry up, according to a new staffing survey.
Vacancy rates for radiation therapists have risen since last year's historic lows, but still remain down, the American Society of Radiologic Technologists said in the annual survey, released Wednesday.
The vacancy rate -- the percent of open, actively recruited positions -- for radiation therapists rose to 3.1 percent in 2011, from a low of 2.6 percent in 2010. But it remains well below the 2009 vacancy rate of 7.5 percent.
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For medical dosimetrists, the rate rose to 4.9 percent this year, up from the 2010 rate of 3.6 percent, also the lowest rate since 2004. In 2009, the vacancy rate was 8.2 percent.
“The data in the Radiation Therapy Staffing Survey 2011 closely mirrors the results outlined in the ASRT Radiology Staffing Survey 2010, which showed that open positions for almost every radiologic technology discipline have declined in the past two years,” ASRT Director of Research John Culbertson said in a statement.
The average number of full-time radiation therapists employed by surveyed facilities was 7.4. A mean of 2.1 dosimetrists were on staff, according to the survey. Employment rates have remained stable in the past three years, ASRT said.
Since 2004, an average of 1.4 full-time radiation therapist positions and 0.5 dosimetrists positions were added per facility.
Vacancy rates varied greatly by region. New England, the highest vacancy area, had a mean 2011 vacancy rate of 13.9 percent. The Mountain region, which includes Idaho, Wyoming and Nevada, and which was the driest jobs area, had a vacancy rate of 0.3 percent.
On average, facilities treat 52 patients a day, and have 2.2 linear accelerators, with 2.3 therapists assigned per accelerator, ASRT said.
Also, about 89 percent of surveyed facilities said they used a CT device for treatment planning. At these facilities, 85.4 percent of respondents said radiation therapists were the ones who operated the equipment.
The survey was conducted in January by e-mail, and was answered by 531 U.S. radiation therapy facility managers. There are about 2,170 such facilities in the country, according to the ASRT.
