Comparison of awareness of radiation protection, dose levels, and complications of radiation exposure in imaging procedures between radiology residents/undergraduate students and radiology staff: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: Radiographic tools are one of the most instruments in hospitals. The ionizing radiation process occurs in radiographic instruments. The ionizing radiation causes side effects in the users. Lack of knowledge of staff and students radiology regarding radiation risks, protection, and dose levels in medical imaging procedures causes complications in them. Therefore, this study was conducted to compare the awareness of radiology staff and students regarding radiation risks, protection, and dose levels in medical imaging procedures. 

Methods: In this analytical cross-sectional study with the participation of 180 participants include 62 students and 118 radiology staff were was done by convenience sampling from the hospitals of Tehran university of medical siences, in 2020 from February to September. The structural and valid gathering tool including 3 sections: baseline data, radiation protection awareness and dose assessment knowledge questionnaire were used.

Results: Approximately 82 % of students chose a dose of lumbar X-ray exams between 1 and 50 times the (potrior – anterior (PA )) chest, and only 9 % answered the question correctly. However, 27% of the staff chose the correct answer. Students on the average dose of mammography had more choice (1-10 times) of a PA chest test, while staff preferred 100-500. The crew performed better on the dose resulting from a PET-CT test as well as the dose estimate from a nuclear medicine heart scan, and selected 36% correct response (more than 500 times the PA chest), while students had a lower rating (1-10 times) than others. Overall, 45% of students and staff had any training or retraining after completing their training at the university. 

Conclusion: In self-reporting, most students and staff believed that they had a suitable or sufficient level of awareness of ionizing radiation. Radiology students had a better level of knowledge about radiation protection than radiology staffs, while radiology staffs had a better estimate in discussing dose assessment.