Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Radiation Safety Precautions among Orthopedic Residents and Consultants in Addis Ababa Burn, Emergency and Trauma Hospital and Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Abstract Background Fluoroscopy is widely used in orthopedic practice both for preoperative planning and operative interventions. Evidences show that there is increased risk of radiation exposure. It is reported that knowledge of radiation safety is very poor among orthopedic surgeons and residents. Junior residents and assistant surgeons are at higher risk for exposure than consultant surgeons. But still there has been also a significant gap in the knowledge, attitude and practice of orthopedic residents and surgeons towards radiation safety precautions. Objective to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of orthopedic residents and surgeons towards radiation safety precautions in Addis Ababa Burn, Emergency and Trauma Hospital, and Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital. Methodology Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2020 to march 2020. The sample size was 114 and all eligible populations were included. Data was collected by trained orthopedic residents. It was entered into EPI INFO 7, processed and analyzed by using SPSS version 23. Both descriptive and analytic statistics was used to assess the variables. The Likert scale with a score out of 5 will be used to assess some of the variables. Result A total of 114 study participants were included which makes of 96.8% of response rate. Just 57.0% of them were age of less than 30 years with mean (SD) age of 29.8 (± 3.3). The majority the participants that account 101 (88.6%) were male. Orthopedic residents were the majority that accounts 103 (90.4%) of the participants. Regarding to the outcome variables, 48.2%, 52.6% and 43.9% of the Orthopedic Residents and Consultants had poor knowledge, negative attitude, and poor practice about radiation safety respectively. Training exposure was one of the explanatory variable which showed a statistically significant association with attitude (AOR; 10.96 (95%CI; 2.90, 41.39). Conclusion around half of the study participants have low level of knowledge, negative attitude and poor practice of radiation safety precautions. Therefore, awareness creation about radiation safety precaution should be given through training or other possible educational approach for orthopedic residents and consultants. Training on radiation safety and prevention should be given for all orthopedic residents and consultants.