Radiation Safety Awareness Amongst Medical Students

ABSTRACT Objectives: To assess awareness of radiation safety amongst medical and dental students and determine how their knowledge could be improved. Methods: An anonymous electronic survey of medical and dental students at a Canadian university was conducted between February and April 2016. It was made up of 15 close-ended questions assessing knowledge and practice of radiation safety measures. Participants were also questioned about their willingness to learn more about radiation safety measures and the type of educational intervention. Results: They were 87 responses, of which 39.1% (n=34) were males and 60.9 % (n=53) were female. Most students (83%, n=39) indicated that they had never practiced radiation safety measures. While most students (81.7%, n=67) had an idea or good idea about radiation safety measures, 45.4% (n=25) had never used them. Most students (77.1%, n=64) wanted to learn more about radiation safety in the form of workshops, seminars, and online modules. Students were divided as to when radiation safety education was appropriate. While 47.6% (n=40) thought that it would be most appropriate to have them during undergraduate degree, 48.8% (n=41) thought that it would be more appropriate during clinical rotations. Most students (75%, n=63) had never completed an educational course on radiation safety and only 9.5% (n=8) knew the annual permissible occupational radiation dose. Most students (76.9%, n=30) did not track their annual occupational radiation exposures. Conclusions: Radiation safety awareness among medical and dental students needs to be improved. Students are willing to learn and improve their knowledge about radiation safety awareness especially during clinical training or college/undergraduate studies