Awareness and Knowledge of Ionizing Radiation Risks Between Prescribed and Self-Presenting Patients for Common Diagnostic Radiological Procedures in Bahrain

Exploring Patient Preferences for Information About CT Radiation Exposure: Bridging the Gap Between Patient Preference and Physician Practice

Background

CT scan utilizes ionizing radiation poses a danger to the patient's health. Thus, telling the patient about ionizing radiation would be critical in promoting shared decision-making and improving patient-doctor communication. However, few studies have examined this topic broadly.

Objective

The study was conducted to identify the frequency of physicians informing patients about the radiation risk before ordering a CT scan, as well as to examine the association between patients' demographic characteristics and their awareness of the radiation risks associated with CT scans.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 387 patients who had undergone CT scans at a tertiary hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Data were collected via phone interviews using a structured questionnaire. Chi-squared tests were employed to assess associations between patients' demographic characteristics and their awareness of CT scan radiation risks.

Results

When examining knowledge, 58% of patients knew that CT involves harmful radiation. This knowledge was significantly associated with higher education level and previous experience with CT scans. Regarding doctors' practice of providing information to patients about the scan, 344 (88.9%) patients indicated that their doctor had explained to them why they needed the scan. Only 28 (7.2%) patients stated that their doctor had mentioned the amount of radiation, and 74 (19.1%) patients indicated that doctors mentioned the risks associated with the radiation of the scan. Almost all patients (96.9%) preferred to be told about why they needed a CT scan.

Conclusion

The vast majority of patients who underwent CT scans did not receive enough information about the harm of the scans. However, most of them preferred to know about this harm.

Assessment of radiographers' knowledge about radiation doses and DRLs in computed tomography departments in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study

Objective

To assess radiographers' understanding of radiation safety considering the newly approved national diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) as an optimization tool for radiation dose.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted in Saudi Arabia among radiographers working at local hospitals in Jeddah city from February to March 2022. The survey comprised of 22 questions involving demographic information; and general information related to radiation dose; CTDIvol and DRLs. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 26. Chi-square test was used to compare demographic groups regarding their distribution of responses with 0.05 as the level of significance.

Results

A total of 169 radiographers participated in the study (39 % females, 60 % males). Most of the participants (91 %) were aware of the description of the ALARA principle. It was noted that (47 %) of the participants indicated that the routine scanning protocols are designed by the radiologists. The majority of them (78 %) were confident to manipulate the CT scanning parameters properly. In addition, half of the participants (53 %) were aware of the CTDIvol and DLP. Unexpectedly, none of the demographic variables were significantly associated with the radiographers' knowledge about radiation dose, p-values are > 0.05.

Conclusion

Although radiographers demonstrated good knowledge of radiation protection, limited awareness of DRLs was noted among radiographers and lack of implementing and optimizing the local dose of the DRLs in this study. Therefore, education and training for healthcare professionals including radiographers are necessary to enhance clinical practical performance in radiology departments.

The need to increase patient awareness of radiation exposure in imaging modalities: A study on the awareness and attitude of patients

BACKGROUND

A decline in requests for unnecessary imaging can be achieved through increased patient awareness about imaging modalities and can thus reduce radiation exposure. This study aimed to evaluate patient awareness and attitude about radiation exposure in various imaging modalities.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was performed on 900 patients and used a 12-item questionnaire, of which 824 were fulfilled and analyzed. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software version 18.

RESULTS

The age of respondents ranged from 18-82; most participants were male (71.5%). The highest patient-estimated radiation exposures were for radiology, CT scans, and mammography. More than 20% of individuals believed that ionizing radiation (IR) is used in MRI, and 60% stated that IR is not used in mammography. Results show a significant statistical difference between attitude and behavior of respondents on the question about knowing who to address questions to in regard to amount of radiation, but they asked the person who is more accessible such as a radiology technologist instead of a medical physicist (P < 0.05). In addition, there was significant statistical difference between question 3 (X-ray is used in which method of radiation?) and question 4 (scoring of radiation exposure in each of the imaging modalities; Score one means no radiation, score has more than one meaning of rays), which indicates accuracy of responses of referees (P <0.05). 73.4% of individuals agree about the importance of reduction of radiation during imaging, and most of the individuals (87%) tended to be aware of radiation exposure in each of imaging modalities.

CONCLUSION

Given the low patient awareness about imaging modalities and radiation dose, it is recommended to prepare brochures and guidance about radiation exposure and absorbed doses in each modality, to be provided and displayed in imaging clinics.

Medical imaging community outreach program: lesson to students and impact to the community

BACKGROUND

The community outreach program is one of the main activities of the University of Rwanda, and both staff and students get involved in this tremendous initiative to serve the community free of charge.

PURPOSE

The main objectives of this community engagement activity were to raise awareness of medical imaging services and abdominal ultrasound screening.

METHODS

The project proposal was planned by the Medical Imaging Department, University of Rwanda College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Remera Campus. It took place at Kigali's main car park. Two ultrasound machines were used, and screening was done by students under supervision of registered sonographers. A cross-sectional design with random sampling was employed, and SPSS version 21 was used for data analysis. Statistical techniques were used to calculate inter-observer reliability by comparing patient complaints and sonographic diagnosis.

RESULTS

Herein we report the first medical imaging community outreach, on which 86 patients received ultrasound abdominal scans free of charge. Of these, 33 (38.5%) were male and 53 (61.5%) were female. Their ages varied from 20 to 76 years, with a mean age of 48. The screened organs included the liver, gall bladder, pancreas, spleen, kidneys, urinary bladder, prostate, uterus and ovaries, and abnormalities were identified in different organs. The results showed a high degree of reliability between what was presented by the patients and measurements found after diagnosis by the sonographer. The average measure of the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.973, with 95% confidence intervals ranging from 0.959 to 0.983 (F (85,85) = 37.537, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

This experience was beneficial to the Medical Imaging Sciences Department staff and students, as well as to the Society of Medical Imaging and Radiation in Rwanda. The results showed that this outreach was also very positive for the community at large.

Ionising radiation exposure from medical imaging - A review of Patient's (un) awareness

INTRODUCTION

Medical imaging is the main source of artificial radiation exposure. Evidence, however, suggests that patients are poorly informed about radiation exposure when attending diagnostic scans. This review provides an overview of published literature with a focus on nuclear medicine patients on the level of awareness of radiation exposure from diagnostic imaging.

METHODS

A review of available literature on awareness, knowledge and perception of ionising radiation in medical imaging was conducted. Articles that met the inclusion criteria were subjected to critical appraisal using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool.

RESULTS

140 articles identified and screened for eligibility, 24 critically assessed and 4 studies included in synthesis. All studies demonstrated that patients were generally lacking awareness about radiation exposure and highlighted a lack of communication between healthcare professionals and patients with respect to radiation exposure.

CONCLUSION

Studies demonstrate a need to better inform patients about their radiation exposure, and further studies focusing on nuclear medicine patients are particularly warranted.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Adequate and accurate information is crucial to ensure the principle of informed consent is present.