ASCP Wage and Vacancy Survey of U.S. Medical Laboratories

Abstract

In 2008, the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) conducted its eleventh Wage and Vacancy Survey to provide recent wage data and determine the extent and distribution of shortages within the nation’s clinical laboratory workforce. This confidential survey of hospital, reference, and physician office laboratory facilities has been administered every two years since 1988 and serves as the primary source of information for academic, governmental, and industry labor analysts in defining the state of the nation’s clinical laboratory workforce. While continuity remains a central objective in order to monitor trends, the survey has evolved in response to the changes in the profession. New position categories and questions have been added to the 2008 survey to examine some of the factors that are affecting wage and vacancy rates. The survey was conducted by Morpace Research and Consulting (Farmington Hills, MI) under the supervision of Nancie Noie Thompson, ASCP Vice President of Membership and Communications, and The Colette Steward Group, an independent research firm. It was administered in two waves. The first wave ran from November 13, 2007, to January 31, 2008, resulting in 1,321 completed questionnaires for a response rate of 13%. To increase laboratory participation, the ASCP partnered with six other organizations in a second wave, fielded from August 14, 2008, to September 25, 2008, which yielded an additional 273 completed questionnaires. In total, 1,594 interviews were completed. For the first wave of survey recipients, a representative sample of clinical laboratories by facility type was obtained from a list supplied by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) database of all legally operating licensed clinical laboratories in the United States. Based on the response rates from the ASCP’s 2003 Wage and Vacancy Survey of Medical Laboratories ( Lab Med. 2005;36:149–157), 10,000 laboratories were selected by facility type and region from the 139,789 …