Vol. 2, Issue 2, Part A (2019)

Abstract: Best medical practices needs health care workers to have an awareness of the possible threats from radiological imaging practices to allow for effective risk/benefit assessments and assurance that ionizing radiation is used skillfully. The aim of this study was to describe the knowledge and practices of health care workers regarding ionizing radiation safety and exposure. A cross sectional study was conducted at four hospitals in Ismailia city, and all health care workers (292) with potential exposure to radiation at the different hospital departments/units were included in the study. A structured self-administered questionnaire was used. The mean scores of correct answers regarding knowledge and practice were as low as 20.6±5.7 and 3.6±4.1 respectively. There is a significant positive correlation between knowledge score and practice score (P<0.0001). The linear regression analysis showed that age, gender and specialty of participants are significant predictors of knowledge while age and working load of participants are predictors of practice. The majority of healthcare workers in this study lacked any specific training or education about radiation protection. We concluded that radiation safety knowledge and practice of participants were poor.