Investigation of the Awareness Level Concerning Radiation Safety among Radiology Healthcare Professionals in Saudi Arabia

Objectives: Radiation protection is a critical issue in health care, especially for patients who have undergone high-dose exposure procedures and pediatric patients. The objective of this study was to assess the awareness level concerning radiation safety among radiology health care professionals. Methods: The Institutional Review Board approved this study prior to data collection (IRB of King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; No. 18-532E). The survey consisted of 30 questions. Five inquiries were related to demographics, and the remaining 25 questions included radiation dose, ALARA principles, NCRP and IAEA regulations, childhood and fetal exposures, and risks. For analysis of the responses to each question, the chi-squared test was used. To assess the relationship between the answers and the demographic variables, the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were utilized. Results: This study was conducted among 250 participants; 75% (188) were men and 25% (62) were women, and 78% of the participants scored 18.5 out of 20. The scores of the participants on radiation dose, ALARA principles, international and national radiological regulations, and radiation exposure risks were 19.7 +/- 4.1, 16.8 +/- 4.1, 18.3 +/- 4.05, 16.2 +/- 3.6 and 19.1 +/- 5.3, respectively. A total of 87.2% (218) of the participants were aware of radiation protection procedures and optimization. Conclusion: This study revealed that most of the participants (87.2%) had "excellent" radiation protection knowledge. The participants with good to fair knowledge accounted for only 4.4%.