Pediatric Residents’ and Medical Interns’ Awareness about Pediatric Ionizing Radiation Dose from Computed Tomography and Its Associated Risks in Tertiary Hospital in Ethiopia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The international literature on physicians’knowledge regarding radiation dosages and risks due to computedtomography showed a widespread underestimation of diagnosticradiation doses. Hence, the objective of this work is to assess theawareness of pediatric residents and medical interns aboutpediatric CT dose and possible risks.METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on May/2016among year I to year III pediatric residents and 2015/2016 yearmedical interns attaching Pediatrics Department during the studyperiod in Tikur Anbessa Specialized Referral and TeachingHospital. Data was collected by distributing standardized structuredquestionnaires. Finally, after the data was checked for clarity andcompleteness, it was analyzed by using SPSS software.RESULT: While the majority (76.3%) of the residents and internsknew that children were more sensitive to radiation than adults,93.7% did not know that there is currently no annual dose limit setfor medical exposure of patients. The majority of the respondents(81.3%) know the risk of cancer from CT scan, but most (60%) ofthe respondents did not know that many imaging facilities still useadult doses for pediatric patients. Furthermore, 18.8% thought thatmagnetic resonance imaging involves ionizing radiation, and 8.9%of the physicians associated ultrasound examinations with ionizingradiation.CONCLUSION : Within resident group, since the level of clinicalexperience did not affect the outcome, we recommend that formaleducation and training on awareness of radiation with specialconcern on pediatric population is mandatory especially forpediatric residents and pediatricians who are major caretakers ofchildren.