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News from the
ASRT The American Society of Radiologic Technologists 15000 Central Ave. SE, Albuquerque, NM 87123-3917 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Dec. 2, 2002 Media Contact: Ceela McElveny, 800-444-2778, Ext. 1239 ENROLLMENT IN RADIOLOGIC SCIENCE PROGRAMS INCREASES FOR THIRD YEAR IN A ROW The nation is on track to meet government-projected demand for radiation therapists and nuclear medicine technologists by 2010 but will fall short of producing enough radiographers to fill the expected number of job openings, according to the results of a study by the American Society of Radiologic Technologists. The study shows that the number of students enrolling in the nation’s radiography, radiation therapy and nuclear medicine programs has increased for the third year in a row. The study also shows that many educational programs are at full student capacity, said Dick Harris, ASRT director of research. The ASRT study estimates that 14,372 first-year students were enrolled in radiography programs nationwide in the fall of 2002, a 9.5 percent increase from an estimated 13,010 students in 2001. The study also estimated that 1,229 students entered radiation therapy programs in 2002, up 39 percent from the estimated 884 students in 2001. Students entering nuclear medicine programs in 2002 were estimated at 1,429, a 26 percent increase from 1,101 students a year earlier. Based on those figures, the ASRT projects that there will be enough radiation therapists and nuclear medicine technologists to fill the number of job openings predicted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS estimates that the nation will need 7,000 more radiation therapists and 8,000 more nuclear medicine technologists in 2010 than it had in 2000. “Even when you subtract the number of students who will drop out of school before graduating and subtract the number of people who will graduate but will not pass the certification examinations, we still have enough students enrolling to meet the BLS projections if the current enrollment trends continue,” said Sal Martino, ASRT executive vice president and chief academic officer. However, the ASRT study shows that the number of technologists entering radiography will not be sufficient to fill the BLS projection of 75,000 more job openings in 2010 than in 2000. “Our study estimated that 14,732 students entered radiography programs in 2002. Using that figure, we factored in the average number of students who will not graduate, as reported by program directors, and the average number of graduates who will not pass the certification examination, as reported by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists,” explained Dr. Harris. “This leaves about 9,612 new radiographers entering the profession each year, which on the surface would seem to be enough to meet the BLS projections. But of those 9,612 new technologists, we know that a certain number will leave the profession each year. Using calculations based on the percentage of radiographers who remain in the profession three, five and 10 years after becoming certified, we estimate that the nation will have an additional 51,040 radiographers working in 2010, which is about 30 percent lower than the number the BLS estimates the country will need.” The ASRT projections assume that the number of students entering radiography programs, the student attrition rate, the examination pass rate and the discipline’s retention profile will remain stable from 2002 forward. “If any of these factors change – for example, if the number of students entering radiography programs increases each year or a higher proportion of them remain in the discipline over the next eight years – then the profession might be able to reach the BLS projection by 2010,” said Dr. Harris. For the number of radiography students to increase, however, there must be enough educational programs to accommodate them. The ASRT study also showed that 69.1 percent of responding radiography programs are at full enrollment, meaning they enrolled the maximum number of students they could support. “If the program director reported full enrollment, we asked them how many qualified students they had to turn away,” said Dr. Martino. “The result showed that 13,766 potential students who wanted to enroll in radiography programs were not able to do so in 2002.” About 28 percent of radiography programs surveyed said that they intend to increase their enrollment levels in the future. Programs that do not plan to increase their enrollment capacity cited space limitations, a lack of qualified applicants, a shortage of faculty and a lack of funding as the most common reasons why they could not expand. In addition, more than a quarter of respondents said that an insufficient number of clinical sites limited their ability to enroll more students. The ASRT survey was conducted in September 2002. The survey questionnaire was sent to the director of every accredited radiologic science program listed by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists – about 830 programs in all. It asked program directors to report student enrollment figures for their 2002, 2001 and 2000 freshman classes. Approximately 66 percent of programs responded. The ASRT then extrapolated the reported enrollment figures to estimate the entire population of students entering radiologic science programs for each of the three years. Complete results of the ASRT enrollment survey are available on the ASRT Web site at www.asrt.org. -ASRT- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2002
ASRT Enrollment Snapshot Of
Radiography, Radiation Therapy and Nuclear Medicine Programs Type of Program
Year
Estimated Total Enrollment
% Increase Radiography 2000 11,296 ----- 2001 13,010 15.2% 2002 14,372 9.5% Radiation Therapy 2000 733 ----- 2001 884 20.6% 2002 1,229 39.0% Nuclear Medicine 2000 1,018 ----- 2001 1,101 8.2% 2002 1,429 26.0% |
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