Awareness of Radiation Protection Safety and Hazards among Healthcare Workers and Paramedical Students

Paramedic students get exposed to various departments of the hospital which increases the risk of unnecessary radiation exposure if they are not aware of it. Newly appointed staff and even some existing experienced staff may get exposed to unnecessary radiation if not trained. Thus knowledge about this topic is essential. Aim- To assess the awareness of the radiation protection, safety, and hazards among healthcare workers and paramedical students of various departments of a hospital Objectives- ? To compare and evaluate the level of knowledge about the radiation protection, safety, and radiation hazards among healthcare workers and paramedical students of various departments of a hospital ? To evaluate if the training session on radiation protection, safety, and hazards is provided to the healthcare workers and paramedical students and how often it is conducted ? To evaluate if the healthcare workers and the paramedical students are able to identify if there is any source of radiation in their own department This study includes healthcare workers and paramedical students. The sample size is 74 participants. An online questionnaire was prepared which was distributed as Google forms. The questionnaire consists of 4 sections, they are- 1) Demographic data 2) Questions related to Radiation protection and safety. 3) Questions related to Biological effects of radiation 4) This sections includes questions related to the source of radiation in their respective department and frequency of visiting a radioactive area. In total, the questionnaire consists of 20 questions. All the questions were multiple-choice questions and contain 4 options for each question. Overall the awareness level was low. Effective and frequent training is necessary for all healthcare workers and paramedical students to improve the quality of knowledge on radiation protection, safety, and hazards to avoid unnecessary exposure to radiation to the workers, students, and patients.