Awareness of ionizing radiation exposure among junior doctors and senior medical students in radiological investigations.

The awareness and knowledge of ionizing radiation exposure in radiological investigations among junior doctors and medical students were studied. The participants were year four to year six senior medical students enrolled at University of Dammam and interns in King Fahad University Hospital. The survey consisted of 22 questions designed online using the software 'QuestionPro' licensed to the University of Dammam. 100 hard copies were also distributed manually and collected. A total of 221 (88.5%) questionnaires were completed. 213 participants viewed, 151 started and 128 (84.7%) completed online. 93% of the distributed samples were completed. Overall knowledge was poor; 44% and 19% of the respondents thought incorrectly that MRI and ultrasound emit ionizing radiation, respectively. Respondents (92%; n  =  203) underestimated the dose of abdominal spiral computed tomography (CT) and 4% thought no ionizing radiation involved in CT. 59% of respondents underestimated the radiation doses in nuclear medicine; bone scan 87%, PET/CT scan 67%, thyroid isotope scan 45% and PET scan 36%. 47% of the subjects had attended formal lectures, tutorials or workshops on radiation protection while 53% (n  =  119) had not. For future education the majority stated they would prefer tutorials or workshops (42.3%) or problem-based learning/case studies (32.4%), while web-based modules would be their last choice (8.1%).