1988 survey of hospital salaries & job responsibilities for clinical engineers & biomedical technicians.

Abstract

The Journal of Clinical Engineering has conducted its third survey of the salaries paid to Clinical Engineers and Biomedical Engineering Technicians in U.S. hospitals. This paper reports the salary and work responsibility data obtained from 1,420 professionals in relationship to: Certification; Region of the U.S.; Teaching Versus Nonteaching Facilities; Years of Experience; Education; Union Membership; and Gender. Data are included on Wage Increases and Job Responsibilities. This was the largest salary survey ever obtained in this field. The average BMET I has 2.4 years of experience and earns $19,400 +/- $3,400 (Std. Dev.). The average BMET II has 5.6 years of experience and earns $24,400 +/- $4,700. The average BMET III has 10.2 years of experience and earns $29,300 +/- $5,300. The average BMET Supervisor has 13.1 years of experience and earns $33,600 +/- $5,600. The average Clinical Engineer has 9.4 years of experience and earns $33,500 +/- $7,400. CE Supervisors are the highest paid in the field with an average 13.2 years of experience and an average salary of $43,900 +/- $11,400. Wages remain the highest on the West Coast and lowest in the Southeast. From 1986 to 1987, the nationwide average wages increased for CE Supervisors (+6.6%), BMET Supervisors (+3.1%) and BMET Is (+2.1%) but decreased for nonsupervisory Clinical Engineers (-2.1%), BMET IIs (-.4%) and BMET IIIs (-.7%). the highest quartile of CE Supervisors now earns between $48,900 and $99,000 per year. While certified individuals earn from $532 to $10,670 more than noncertified, a part of this difference is attributable to additional years of experience.