Background: This study aims to evaluate the level of medical students' and intern doctors' awareness of ionizing radiation exposure doses during common radiological procedures.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 128 medical students and interns using a questionnaire listing different radiation doses of common radiological procedures. Student's t-test was performed to compare the means of different study groups with two categories. The variables with more than two categories were assessed using the one-way analysis of variance.
Results: Overall, the level of knowledge was very poor (mean score of 0.71 out of 9.00). Only 4.6% of students and intern doctors correctly identified the actual dose received from chest X-rays. Only 11.5% and 10.3% being aware that magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound are non-ionizing imaging modalities.
Conclusion: By some previous studies, most of the medical students and intern doctors had poor knowledge about the actual dose exposure during common radiological examinations. Also, a significant number of study subjects had never been educated on ionizing radiation. This lack of knowledge may lead future doctors to order harmful, unnecessary radiological investigations.
Key words: Ionizing radiation, medical education, radiological procedures, radiation exposure.
|
