Quantitative Medical Physics National Job Data Distribution Analysis.

Abstract Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the contemporary distribution of medical physics (MP) employment opportunities across the country. Methods An annual record (2018-19) of advertised full-time MP jobs were created using publicly available information from the aapm.org, American Association of Physicists in Medicine - AAPM and indeed.com websites. Listed jobs were categorized based on the position name, work experience, job function, and geographical region. To account for regional population differences, a preponderance of employment opportunities per 10 million was computed. Using CAMPEP residency accreditation data the nationwide locations of the MP training centers and the number of residency positions per annum were identified. A Chi-square goodness of fit test was used for statistical analysis. Results A total of 441 unique MP jobs were reported nationwide per annum (2018-19). The highest percentage of MP jobs was reported from the South (33.6%), and the lowest (17.2%) was from the West region. Current analysis revealed 148 (33.6%) jobs were academic and 293 (66.4%) non-academic. The South shows the highest overall academic jobs (31.8%), while the West had the lowest (13.5%). Regionally, the highest percentage of academic jobs (46.9%) were reported from the Northeast, while the West showed the lowest (26.3%). The analysis of academic versus non-academic job comparison by regions shows statistically significant (P=0.0133) differences. The Midwest and the West regions showed the highest (18.2) and lowest (10.24) number of jobs per unit population, measured in 10 million. Conclusion This is one of the first national quantitative job data analyses of the MP job distributions. This study revealed the current level of demand for qualified candidates demonstrating an imbalance between academic and non-academic positions over the regions. Moreover, the geographical distribution of job listings deviated significantly from expectation given the relative population of each region.