Assessment of diagnostic reference levels awareness and knowledge amongst CT radiographers
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Date
2021-02-25
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Egyptian Journal of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine
Abstract
Background: Reports indicated that numerous factors, including inadequate personnel knowledge, contributes to
insufficient patient data for setting up diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) in developing countries. This study aims to
evaluate the knowledge of DRLs as an optimisation tool amongst computed tomography (CT) radiographers in
northern Nigeria. This is a quantitative cross-sectional study. A structured questionnaire was devised and distributed
on site to sixty-two CT radiographers in northern Nigeria. A total of fifteen questions were included in the
questionnaire focusing on DRLs, dose optimisation and dose descriptors generating quantitative data concerning
overall CT radiographers’ perceived knowledge and awareness about DRLs.
Results: A response rate of 77.4% (48/62) was achieved. About 83.3% of the participants declare DRLs awareness,
and 37.5% carried out a local dose survey. The percentage correctly perceived knowledge of concepts; DRLs was
45.8%, dose optimisation (42%) and CT dose descriptor (39%). Radiographers with work experience ranging from 4-
10 years had the highest score.
Conclusion: In this survey, deficiencies were noted in radiographers’ knowledge about DRLs with precise
knowledge gap in the implementation of local dose survey for DRLs and optimisation. There is a need for
continuous radiographers’ training with greater emphasis on dose optimisation and institutional based dose
evaluation.
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Diagnostic reference levels, Computed tomography, Radiographer education, Dose optimisation