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11419

Awareness of Radiation Protection Measures among Radiologists and Non-Radiologists

Article

Last updated: 03 Jan 2025

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Abstract

Background: More than 3,600 million radiology examinations are carried out every year worldwide. In spite of the great benefits of diagnostic and therapeutic radiations, they may result in some hazards if used inappropriately. However, these hazards can be prevented through raising the awareness of health care professionals about these hazards and the protective measures to be considered. Several guidelines and regulations were issued for this purpose including; the POPUMET regulations and ALARA principle and the WHO global initiative on radiation safety in health care settings. Aim: The current study aimed at assessing the level of radiation protection awareness among clinicians and radiologists in addition to exploring if radiation protection courses have a beneficial effect on the awareness level or not. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study where the level of radiation protection awareness was assessed using an anonymous questionnaire. Results: A total of 101 (100%) participants responded to the questionnaire. Of which; 49 (48.5%) were residents, 30 (29.7%) were specialists and 22 participants (21.8%) were consultants. Slightly less than half of the participants (48, 47.5%) have attended a radiation protection course before. The majority of participants who attended a course (68.8%) have heard about the POPUMET regulations (p<0.001). Participants were asked about the procedures with risk equivalent to 0.25 mSy of radiation estimated dose equivalent. And it was found that course attendance improved the knowledge about the risk of 3 (out of 4) procedures (p<0.05). On the other hand, course attendance didn't improve the knowledge about the approximated radiation doses of some procedures (p>0.05) or the degree of radio-sensitivity of different organs (p>0.05). The majority of the participants (96%) were not aware that there is no annual limit of radiation dose for patients. Around half of the participants (56.4%) were aware about what the word “ALARA" stands for. Conclusion: Results of the current study suggested that the level of radiation protection awareness among health care professionals is not sufficient to ensure patients and workers' safety. And accordingly, we suggested that more efficient awareness programs for health care professionals are conducted on regular basis with regular monitoring of awareness level to explore areas for improvement.

DOI

10.12816/0043471

Keywords

Radiation, POPUMET, ALARA, Awareness

Authors

First Name

Khaled Awdah

Last Name

Algohani

MiddleName

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Affiliation

Royal Commission Hospital

Email

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City

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Orcid

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First Name

Ali Abdullah

Last Name

Aldahhasi

MiddleName

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Affiliation

King Fahad Hospital

Email

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City

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Orcid

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First Name

Abdullah Hassan

Last Name

Algarni

MiddleName

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Affiliation

King Fahad Hospital

Email

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City

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Orcid

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First Name

Khaled Yahya

Last Name

Amrain

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

King Fahad Hospital

Email

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City

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Orcid

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First Name

Majed Abdulkarim

Last Name

Marouf

MiddleName

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Affiliation

King Fahad Hospital

Email

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City

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Orcid

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Volume

70

Article Issue

3

Related Issue

2142

Issue Date

2018-01-01

Receive Date

2018-08-19

Publish Date

2018-01-01

Page Start

371

Page End

375

Print ISSN

1687-2002

Online ISSN

2090-7125

Link

https://ejhm.journals.ekb.eg/article_11419.html

Detail API

https://ejhm.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=11419

Order

2

Type

Original Article

Type Code

606

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

The Egyptian Journal of Hospital Medicine

Publication Link

https://ejhm.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Awareness of Radiation Protection Measures among Radiologists and Non-Radiologists

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023