Assessment of Patients’ Knowledge of Radiation Exposure during Medical Imaging Procedures at Private Medical Radiography Centres in Ogun State, Nigeria
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Date
2020-10-31
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Asian Journal of Medicine and Health
Abstract
Introduction: Radiological examinations are commonly requested for patients to aid clinical
diagnosis. However, many doctors do not realize how much radiation dosage their patients are
exposed to during radiological aim. The main objective of this study was to assess the level of
knowledge of radiation exposure and safety practices among patients undergoing medical imaging
in Ado-Odo Local Government Area, in Ogun State of Nigeria.
Methodology: A self-administered questionnaire was used for the study.
Results: More than half of the respondents 216(69.7%) were female, more than one-quarter
153(49.4) of the respondents were aged 20-29 years, More than half 186(60.0%) of the respondent
are single. More than half 204(66.4%) of the respondents have heard about radiation exposure.
Majority 232(74.8%) of the respondents agree that radiation hazard do come only from medical
radiations. More than half 21(68.7%) of the respondents agree that they do take note of radiation
warning sign, majority 236(76.1%) of the respondents agree that they know the wrong use of dose
of ionizing radiation can lead to mortality, 217(70.0%) of the respondents agree that inappropriate
safety measure on ionizing radiation can result into cancer
Conclusion: This study notes that majority of the literature on awareness and knowledge of the
effects of ionizing radiation was carried out among health workers, whereas there is limited
information from patients who undergo the procedure. This accounts for the paucity of local studies
to compare our results with. In future, studies could compare the radiation awareness among
patients presenting at health facilities from public and private, as well as differences in awareness
levels of self-presenting and prescribed patient
Description
Radiological examinations are commonly
requested for Patients to assist clinical diagnosis.
However, many doctors do not realize how much
radiation dosage their Patients are exposed to
during radiological investigations. Although
radiological examinations play an important role
in daily practice within the hospital setting,
patients are not properly informed about the
radiation dose they are exposed to when
undergoing a radiological examination that
nearly all Patients undergoing Computed
tomography (CT) scans were not informed about
the radiation risk. This may be partly explained
by improper knowledge among referring doctors
concerning the radiation dose of commonly
performed examinations, regardless of years
of clinical experience . Ionizing radiation from
medical applications represents the majority of
radiation doses from artificial sources to which
the general population is exposed. This is the
consequence of a steadily increasing demand for
radiological examinations with particular
reference to multidetector computed tomography
(MDCT), which alone accounts for about 50% of
the overall medical radiation exposure (Hricak et
al.,2011). T