A Multi-Centre Survey to Assess Awareness of Radiation Protection Among the Radiation Worker at Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy Facilities in Karachi City

Purpose: To assess the awareness level of radiation protection related topics among the radiation workers (i.e., technologist, medical physicists and medical professional) at selected radiology, nuclear medicine and radiotherapy facilities in Karachi. Material and Methods: A questionnaire was designed and distributed among 165 radiation workers with varying experience, training record, education and field of specialization. Among 165 total respondents, 84 belonged to radiology, 20 to nuclear medicine and 61 to radiotherapy facilities. The educational level was classified as less than 16 years and equal and greater than 16 years. Similarly, training was classified as “attended” or “never attended” and experience as less than 5 years, between 5 to 10 years and greater than 10 years. The data was processed through SPSS v.20 against a significance level (P ≤ 0.05). Results: The results generally show that radiation workers in radiology, nuclear medicine and radiotherapy have limited awareness of radiation protection issues. In general, awareness of radiation effects, radiation warning sign and annual dose limit is optimum, however, the response of questions related to patient protection remained poor. Conclusion: This study indicates a need to overall improvement in radiation protection awareness among all type of workers.