World's Largest Resource for Cardiovascular Perfusion

Perfusion NewswireMobile Zone1998 Perfusion Benefits Survey

1998 Perfusion Benefits Survey

Introduction:

The idea for this survey was generated out of my own
frustration. Our own group of Perfusionists have been negotiating with our hospital to
convert to a salary method of remuneration, rather than hourly. Although we
“knew” that most Perfusionists were paid by salary, there was no data available
to either us, or the hospital to show this. Also I had heard for such a long time about
how other Perfusionists in our area were making a gazillion dollars, while we just barely
got by. Still other stories of how those of us employed by hospitals, were at the bottom
of the salary chain, while self-employed private Perfusionists were, “raking it
in”.

I assumed that since I had been asking these questions,
that other Perfusionists probably were too. So for answers to my own questions, and anyone
else who shared my curiosity, I developed a questionnaire and approached Bryan Lich, CCP
of The Perfusion Home Page on the World Wide Web.
He graciously agreed to work with me and set up the survey on his Web site. He also was
instrumental in getting the word out to other Perfusionists online. So from October
through December of 1998, Surveys were completed and collected from around the country.
What follows are the results of this labor.

I would first like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Bryan
Lich, CCP of The Perfusion Home page for all his hard work. It was his ability that took
the survey I created and made it “user friendly” in cyberspace. I would also
like to thank everyone who took the time to complete a survey. What you see here is a
compilation of your contributions. Even though we didn?t get the total response we
had hoped for, I think that this is a good first effort. Perhaps next time I will have
earned a greater degree of trust from the Perfusion community to accumulate a larger (and
perhaps more accurate) sample size. However, I do believe that there is useful information
here that can be used by everyone.

Everything on the survey, with the exception of gross
income, has been averaged together on a national level only. Job responsibilities,
workload, and benefits should not be regional, as they are not effected by local
“costs of living”. Although further analysis/comparisons could have been done,
there were certain limitations due to the number of responses. I have not tried to draw
any conclusions, but have merely presented the results of the survey including survey
numbers, averages, and ranges. If there is any further analysis you would like performed
(particularly from those States that had a larger sampling size), please contact me at: [email protected]

National Survey Results:

There were a total of 399 surveys submitted. Of those,
two of them were from part time employees who had little or no benefits. Although I
appreciate their efforts, those two surveys had to be eliminated from the pool. That
leaves with a sample size of 397 for most information. However, not all questions were
answered on each survey, so that would alter the sample size in certain situations. Also,
I wanted to make the survey as user friendly as possible to increase the number of
responses, so some questions were not included.

Job Experience:

Those responding to the survey ranged in Perfusion
experience of from less than one year, to 37 years. The average experience of the sample
was 11.6 years. The range of years with the same employer was again from less than one
year to 35 years, with an average of 8.0 years.

Certification:

368 (93%) indicated that they were certified by the ABCP.
27 (7%) indicated that they were certification eligible (two of whom stated they were
certified by another organization), 1 indicated that they were not certified, and 1 did
not answer the question.

Job Responsibilities:

The following is a breakdown of job responsibilities
reported as the total number of those indicating a particular job duty as part of their
responsibility, and the percentage it represents of the total sample. Cardiopulmonary
Bypass is not included, as that duty must be performed to be considered a Perfusionist and
remain certified.

Autologous Blood Salvage (Cell Saver) 338 85%

VAD?s
354 89%

CPS
253 64%

ECMO
176 44%

Interventional Cardiology Standby 284
72%

IABP Insertion Assistance
333
84%

Liver Transplant
82
21%

Isolated Limb Perfusion
69
17%

Surgical Assistant
22
6%

Vein Harvesting
16
4%

Removal of:

IABP
103
26%

Sutures/staples
10
3%

Temporary Pacing Leads
11
3%

Chest Tubes
8
2%

43 surveys (11%) indicated “other” with
descriptions primarily made up of the following (numbers in parenthesis represent the
number of Perfusionists with that comment):

STS data and/or database management/collection (7),
Assist/insert

Arterial/Swan lines (5), Pacer insertion
assistance/analysis (4), Heart

and/or lung transplants (4), stat lab (3),
Monitoring/Anesthesia

monitoring assistant (3), Heartport (2), Heartmate (2),
Cath lab assist

(2), Thoratec (1), assist with none CPB cases (1), surgical
circulator

(1), Foley insertion (1), Clinic rounds (1), clipping
cerebral aneurysms

(1), Thromboelastography interpretation (1), organ
harvesting (1),

spinal cooling (1), Chest Trauma (1), therapeutic
hypothermia (1),

wound closure (1), Plasma sequestration (1), pre-bypass
autologous

blood collection (1), Platelet gel (1), and orderly tasks
on days when hearts are not scheduled (1).

Call Responsibilities:

Weekday Call Responsibilities:

On call 0 days per week
27 7%

On call every weekday
29 7%

On call every 2nd weekday
115 29%

On call every 3rd weekday
108 27%

On call every 4th weekday
59 15%

On call every 5th weekday
29 7%

On call every 6th weekday
7 2%

On call every 7th weekday
21 5%

Clearly the majority of weekday call responsibilities fall
within every 2nd, 3rd, or 4th weekday with 71% of all
Perfusionists reporting in that range.

Weekend Call Responsibilities:

On call 0 weekends
8
2%

On call every weekend
15 4%

On call every 2nd weekend 139
35%

On call every 3rd weekend
107 27%

On call every 4th weekend
83 21%

On call every 5th weekend
27 7%

On call every 6th weekend
9 2%

On call every 7th weekend
7 2%

Again the majority of weekend call falls within every 2nd,
3rd, or 4th weekend with 83% of all Perfusionists reporting in that
range.

Travel to Other Programs:

64 (16%) indicated that they are required by their
employer to travel to programs that they were unfamiliar with.

Annual Caseload and Patient Age Population:

Annual Caseload:

6 (2%) < 50 cases/year

49 (12%) 50-100 cases per year

140 (35%) 100-150 cases per year

120 (30%) 150-200 cases per year

53 (13%) 200-250 cases per year

17 (4%) 250-300 cases per year

11 (3%) >300 cases per year

1
Did not indicate

Even though there is quite a spread, clearly the majority
of Perfusionists (at 65%) performs between 100 and 200 cases a year.

Patient Age Population:

294 (74%) Indicated they did adults only

96 (24%) Indicated they did adults and peds

6 (2%) Indicated peds only

1 Did not indicate

The following analysis was performed to answer the question
of whether patient age population effected workload (Do Perfusionists that perform Adults
and Pediatrics work harder than Perfusionists that do Adults only? etc.).

Of the 294 that indicated adults only, the following
outlines a breakdown of their annual caseload:

2 (1%) < 50 cases/year

33 (11%) 50-100 cases per year

100 (34%) 100-150 cases per year

120 (32%) 150-200 cases per year

41 (14%) 200-250 cases per year

13 (4%) 250-300 cases per year

9 (3%) >300 cases per year

Of the 96 that indicated adults and pediatrics, the
following outlines a breakdown of their annual caseload:

4 (4%) < 50 cases/year

13 (14%) 50-100 cases per year

37 (39%) 100-150 cases per year

24 (25%) 150-200 cases per year

12 (13%) 200-250 cases per year

4 (4%) 250-300 cases per year

2 (2%) >300 cases per year

Of the 6 that indicated pediatrics only, the following
outlines a breakdown of their annual caseload:

3 (50%) 50-100 cases per year

2 (33%) 100-150 cases per year

1 (17%) 150-200 cases per year

Unfortunately, the sample size for the “pediatrics
only” group was too small to be statistically significant.

Employers:

200 (50%) Hospital
employees

137 (35%) Private
Perfusion group employees

51 (13%)
Employed by Surgeons

9
(2%) Did not indicate

The following analysis was performed to answer the question
of whether the source of employment effected annual workload and annual salary benefits
(Do Perfusionists who are employed by Private Perfusion groups or the surgeons, work
harder and make more money than those employed by hospitals? etc.).

Of the 200 employed by hospitals, the following is a
breakdown of annual caseloads:

3 (2%) < 50 cases/year

30 (15%) 50-100 cases per year

69 (35%) 100-150 cases per year

59 (30%) 150-200 cases per year

27 (14%) 200-250 cases per year

8 (4%) 250-300 cases per year

4 (2%) >300 cases per year

Of those 200 employed by hospitals, 198 listed a
gross annual income with a national range of $45,000 – $140,000, and an average of
$82,058.



Of the 137 employed by a Private Perfusion group, the
following is a breakdown of annual caseloads:

2 (2%) < 50 cases/year

11 (8%) 50-100 cases per year

55 (40%) 100-150 cases per year

45 (33%) 150-200 cases per year

12 (9%) 200-250 cases per year

8 (6%) 250-300 cases per year

3 (2%) >300 cases per year

Of those 137 employed by a Private Perfusion group,
133 listed a gross annual income with a national range of $42,000 – $275,000, and an
average of $78,646.

Of the 51 employed by the surgeon or surgical group, the
following is a breakdown of annual caseloads:

0 <50 cases per year

7 (14%) 50-100 cases per year

14 (27%) 100-150 cases per year

15 (29%) 150-200 cases per year

11 (22%) 200-250 cases per year

1 (2%) 250-300 cases per year

3 (6%) >300 cases per year

Of those 51 employed by the surgeon or surgical
group, 50 listed a gross annual income with a national range of $40,000 – $130,000, and an
average of $76,300.

Employment Position:

250 (63%) Staff
Perfusionist

125 (31%) Chief
Perfusionist

35 (9%)
Instructor

21 (5%)
Partner

17 (4%)
Owner

Of the 250 identifying themselves as staff Perfusionists,
242 listed an annual income, and did not identify themselves as owners/partners. Those 242
had a gross annual income with a national range of $40,000 – $140,000, and an average
annual income of $72,262.

Of the 125 identifying themselves as chief Perfusionists,
113 listed an annual income, and did not identify themselves as owners/partners. Those 113
had a gross annual income with a national range of $55,000 – $145,000, and an average
annual income of $87,690.

Of the 35 identifying themselves as Instructors, 35 listed
an annual income, and did not identify themselves as owners/partners. Those 35 had a gross
annual income with a national range of $52,000 – $125,000, and an average annual income of
$72,262.

Of the 21 partners and 17 owners (38), 3 had identified
themselves as both, and 33 listed an annual income. Those 33 had a gross annual income
with a national range of $56,000 – $275,000, and an average annual income of $110,333.




Method of Remuneration:

Salary 257 (65%)

Salary with bonus 70 (18%)

Hourly

Guaranteed 40 hours/week 21 (5%)

Paid only for hours actually worked 17 (4%)

Required to be at hospital 40 hours 7 (2%)

Indicated guaranteed 35 hours + O.T. 1

No description of hourly pay 2

Fee per case 18 (5%)

Other (with no explanation) 4 (1%)

Retirement:

Of the 397 surveys, 366 (92%) indicated they had a
retirement plan.

Of those 366, 77 (21%) indicated a dual retirement source.

A breakdown of the employers for those 77 is as follows:

49 (64%) Hospital employees

15 (19%) Private Perfusion group

10 (13%) Employed by Surgeon

Of the 31 without retirement benefits:

27 (87%) Private Perfusion group

2 (6%) Hospital employees

2 (6%) Employed by surgeon

Of the 366 indicating they had a retirement program:

Fully funded Pension 142 (39%)

Of those 142:

40 (28%) also had a fully funded 401K

18 (13%) also had a partially funded 401K

Partially funded Pension 59 (16%)

Of those 59:

19 (32%) also had a partially funded 401K

Fully funded 401K 74 (20%)

Of those 74:

18 (24%) also had a fully funded Pension

Partially funded 401K 168 (46%)

Of those 168:

40 (24%) also had a fully funded Pension

19 (11%) also had a partially funded Pension

Insurance Coverage:

Medical insurance coverage provided by employer:

Employee and family 272 (69%)

Employee only 104 (26%)

No medical insurance 21 (5%)

Of the 21 who indicated no medical insurance:

6 (29%) Hospital employees

13 (62%) Private Perfusion group

1 Employed by surgeon

1 Did not indicate employer

Dental insurance coverage provided by employer:

Employee and family 207 (52%)

Employee only 88 (22%)

No dental insurance 100 (25%)

Did not indicate 1

Of those 100 who indicated no dental insurance:

26 (26%) Hospital employees

52 (52%) Private Perfusion group

19 (19%) Employed by surgeon

3 (3%) Did not indicate employer

(Author?s note: In the above information, it is
unknown how many of the respondents were single, and therefore would not receive coverage
for employee & family even if it was available from their employer. Also it is not
known how many may have voluntarily elected for no benefits in lieu of a higher salary due
to other coverage available from a spouse, etc.)

Life insurance provided by employer:

322 (81%) of respondents indicated that they had
life insurance provided. Of those 322, 35 did not indicate an amount. One could assume
that since no amount was indicated, it was probably inconsequential (enough to cover
burial expenses). Of the remaining 287 who did indicate their coverage amount, the average
benefit amount was $127,456.00. A breakdown of ranges follows:

$ 1,000 – $ 25,000
42 (15%)

$ 26,000 – $ 50,000
49 (17%)

$ 51,000 – $ 100,000 96
(33%)

$ 101,000 – $ 250,000 67
(23%)

$ 251,000 – $ 500,000 28
(10%)

$ 500,000 – $1,000,000 5
(2%)

Disability Insurance:

273 (69%) indicated that they had disability insurance
provided by their employer. Due to the vast amounts and types of disability plans out
there, no breakdown of adequacy could be provided.

Malpractice Insurance:

332 (84%) indicated that they had malpractice insurance
provided by their employer.

Time Off:

Vacation Time:

Of the 397 surveys, 27 indicated that they had
combined vacation, holiday, and/or sick time in the form of PTO. That breakdown will
follow at the end of this section. 2 other surveys did not answer this section. Of the 368
remaining:



7 (2%) 0 weeks of
vacation

1 1 week of vacation

52 (14%) 2 weeks
of vacation

112 (30%) 3 weeks
of vacation

118 (32%) 4 weeks of
vacation

49 (13%) 5 weeks of
vacation

21 (6%) 6 weeks of
vacation

3 (1%) 7 weeks of
vacation (2=hospital employees, 1=Pvt. Perf. Grp.)

3 (1%) 8 weeks of
vacation (2=hospital employees, 1=Pvt. Perf. Grp.)

1 10 weeks of
vacation (Hospital employed)


Leave a Reply

#1 largest online community of Perfusionists

Join Our Perfusion.com
Online Community

Get your swag kit by becoming a member or updating profile.
Swag will be sent to U.S. mailing addresses only.
©2024 Perfusion. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Your Privacy Choices