Assessment of Healthcare Professionals' Knowledge and Awareness on Aspects Related to Ionizing Radiation Examinations in Athens, Greece.

BACKGROUND

Healthcare professionals involved with ionizing radiation must have sufficient knowledge of its effects on the human body in order to avoid potential risks for both patients and themselves. The aim of this study was to estimate the knowledge and awareness of healthcare professionals about the hazards of radiological examinations on their health and on their patients.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional study, and the data collection was carried out with a self-administered questionnaire. The study group included a total of 210 individuals from different professional groups: nurses, doctors, medical technicians, radiologists, and other staff working in different clinics that use radiation in their work. The study was carried out in a large hospital in Athens, Greece.

RESULTS

The study population consisted of 210 subjects aged 44.7 ± 9.1 years. In a total of 23 questions, participants answered correctly to 6.4 ± 2.6 questions. The factors for predicting the correct responses were male gender (β = -1.034, p = 0.004), frequency of contact with imaging examinations of patients requiring ionizing radiation (β = 0.496, p = 0.007), participation in any educational process (β = -0.918, p = 0.014), the number of published articles on radiation protection (β = 0.720, p = 0.001), and knowledge of the principle of ALARA (β = -0.391, p = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

It is proposed to include a radiation protection course in the total healthcare professionals' undergraduate curricula in order to address the current knowledge gap in clinical practice.