Investigation of Preferences in Working Environment of Students for Maintaining Uniform Geographical Distribution of Radiological Technologists

Abstract

This study was designed to assess working environment preferences of students in the Department of Radiological Technology using conjoint analysis for establishing an efficient medical system. We carried a questionnaire survey on working environment preferences for 196 students in the Department of Radiological Technology in Japan. We defined eight characteristics for virtual medical facilities as follows: presence of colleagues who can be consulted, employment status, number of night shift per month, academic meeting participation, number of hospital beds, possession of nuclear medicine imaging systems and radiation therapy systems, location of medical facilities, and change rate in annual income. A total of 18 virtual medical facilities were selected by an orthogonal array table using above-mentioned characteristics. The acquired data by the pairwise comparison method were analyzed by conjoint analysis. Marginal rates of substitution that represent students' preferences were also calculated. The factors that influenced their preferences were the following: placement of medical facilities in great city, presence of colleagues who can be consulted, employment status is not non-regular employment, set up of nuclear medicine imaging systems and radiation therapy systems, the number of night shift is twice per month, and attendances at academic meetings. In summary, students in the Department of Radiological Technology tend to prefer the facilities with regular employment, great city, presence of colleagues who can be consulted, and possession of nuclear medicine imaging systems and/or radiation therapy systems.