A scheduler in a busy imaging department is on her fourth call of the morning. Two of her CT techs called out, there is no per diem pool left to tap, and the MRI suite opens in 40 minutes.
This is not a bad week. This is Thursday.
According to the 2025 ASRT Radiologic Sciences Workplace and Staffing Survey, overall staffing pressure in medical imaging has reached historic levels across every major modality. The numbers are not directionally alarming. They are operationally disqualifying.
And yet the narrative most health system leaders carry is still the recruiting story: post more jobs, raise the sign-on bonus, call the travel agency. That frame is wrong. The data tells a different story entirely.
This is a production problem - not a recruitment problem. And the distinction has enormous consequences for how imaging departments budget, plan, and survive the next five years.
