Present situation of the staff of ultrasound departments in Shanghai medical institutions

Objective To investigate the current basic situation of the staff of ultrasound departments in Shanghai′s medical institutions, for providing references in making management policy of these professionals. Methods Questionnaire surveys on human resource and service ability were made to all the ultrasound departments of medical institutions in Shanghai in December 2013 and November 2018 respectively. Data of the two surveys were compared and analyzed, and were descriptively analyzed by mean and percentage. Results The number of ultrasound professionals per 10 000 people in Shanghai was 1.04 in 2018. Tertiary hospitals had advantages in the number of the professionals, and the proportion of professional qualification, age, education background and professional title of the professionals. Compared to those data in 2013, the number of ultrasound professionals had increased 31.8% in 2018. The proportion of medical practitioners with medical imaging specialty was 95.6%(2 063/2 158), and had increased by 4.7 percent. The medical services workload of ultrasound was 19.82 million person-time, and had increased 45.8%. Conclusions Development of ultrasound departments was rapid, but the development of professionals was unbalanced with the development of medical services. It is suggested to strengthen training of ultrasound professionals and improve the system of hierarchical medical system. Key words: Health manpower; Ultrasonography; Professional and technical personnel; Shanghai