Radiation and Radiation Protection Awareness among Medical Imaging Program Students

Abstract

With the technological developments in the field of health, the use of radiation in medicine is increasing day by day. The radiation awareness of healthcare personnel working in radiation is also very important in terms of both their own protection and the protection of patients from radiation. The aim of this study is to reveal the level of knowledge about radiation and radiation protection of students from Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Vocational School of Health Services, which provides Medical Imaging and Radiology education in Çanakkale province, who are doing practice/internship/skill training in diagnostic radiology units of hospitals and whether this awareness differs according to various individual and demographic characteristics. For this purpose, a questionnaire including both demographic characteristics and the scale was applied to 189 university students to obtain the data set. For the statement "I have knowledge about X-rays", 3.2% of the 1st grade students strongly disagreed, 8.4% were undecided, 69.5% agreed, 4.2% disagreed and 14.7% strongly agreed, while 1.1% of the 2nd grade students strongly disagreed, 2.1% were undecided, 75.5% agreed and 20.1% strongly agreed (p=0.04). In general, no difference was found between the 1st and 2nd grades when the level of knowledge about radiation and radiation protection was evaluated. In order to reinforce the topics related to radiation, it would be useful to repeat the topics frequently in the courses and to prepare current presentations by experts in the field and to present them as seminars within the scope of in-service training for both students and Radiology Technicians professionally.