Abstract
The physiological function test is the only patient contact area in the field of clinical laboratory. We need to recruit and encourage the experts due to requiring the expertise and long time for examination. However, there is currently no rule for estimating optimal workforce in the field of physiological function tests. The purpose of this study is to establish the basis of the studies for mid- to long-long term job creation in the field of ultrasound by evaluating the number of appropriate tests and appropriate workforce. We calculated the quantitative and qualitative workload for the number of appropriate tests and appropriate workforce using online questionnaire. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 18.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). A total of 216 respondents were 48 (22.2%) male and 168 (77.8%) female. A total of 157 laboratories were 62 (39.5%) for echocardiography, 91 (58.0%) for the transcranial Doppler (TCD) and 4 (5.7%) for the carotid ultrasound. The mean number of appropriate tests was 10 ± 2 in the echocardiography, 9 ± 2 in TCD and 11 ± 2 in the carotid ultrasound. In addition, the number of laboratories required to recruit employees for appropriate workforce was 19 in echocardiography, 18 in TCD, and 0 in carotid ultrasound. The number of hospital required to recruit workforce were 7 primary hospitals, 22 secondary hospitals, 7 third hospitals. This study can be used as an important data as the first study at present time when the data on the workforce status and work environment of the ultrasonic laboratories is insufficient. Based on the quantitative and qualitative workloads, the number of appropriate tests and appropriate workforce can support mid- to long-long term job creation in the field of ultrasound.