The role of location in medical technologist job satisfaction

The purpose of this study was to determine if a difference in job satisfaction existed between medical technologists working in an urban hospital and those working in a suburban hospital. The four areas of investigation were (1) satisfaction with pay, (2) professional status, (3) medical technologist-physician relationship, and (4) job task requirements. Sixty medical technologists, from two different hospital locations, were surveyed using a work satisfaction questionnaire. A response rate of 60 percent from the suburban and 58 percent from the urban hospital was achieved. Analysis using the Mann-Whitney U test indicated that urban laboratorians were more satisfied with all areas of interest than were their suburban counterparts. The surveyed medical technologists were most satisfied with professional status, medical technologist-physician relationship, pay, and job task requirements. All scores were, in general, low, suggesting a need to attend to improved job satisfaction among medical technologists.