Several radiological examinations may expose patients to significant amounts of ionizing radiation [1-3].
Furthermore,
recent evolution of some radiological modalities has increased the number of performed examinations,
rising concerns in the scientific community for the possible long term effects on patients [4-5].
While acute effects of radiation exposure,
such as erythema or burns following interventional procedures,
are evident after a short time,
the long term effects are more difficult to determine.
Recently,
some papers have clearly demonstrated a small but significant increment of cancer in children and young patients who have been exposed to CT scans.
These results have confirmed prior studies based on survivors of the Japanese atomic bombs.
Although the debate about this risk is still open,
it is clear that we cannot underestimate the problem [6,7].
Procedures which make use of ionizing radiation must be handled by professionals with a specific expertise in radiation protection such as radiologists,
physicists and radiographers.
Inside radiological area,
while physicists play a controlling role,
radiologists have the great responsibility of assessing if the radiological examination must be performed and,
if so,
how to perform it in order to minimize patient exposure.
Only a full awareness of radiation protection issues and knowledge of the radiation doses produced by different modalities,
may allow radiologists to make the right decision,
allowing the observance of appropriateness and optimization criteria.
General training about radiation protection needs to be given starting from the university courses and must be followed with specific courses during radiology curriculum,
as requested by the Guidelines on radiation protection education and training of medical professionals in the European Union (175/2014) which have set the minimum knowledge expected in each and every practitioner involved in Radiation Protection [8].
In the past decade,
many studies have been performed with the aim of estimating the radiation protection background of physicians from varying specialties and most of these studies have demonstrated disappointing results.
Most physicians underestimated doses associated with various imaging modalities and in same cases they were not able to differentiate between ionizing and non ionizing radiological examinations [9-13].
Although some studies of medical students’ knowledge of radiology have been previously reported,
the specific awareness among medical students about radiation protection issues and radiation doses associated with radiological procedures needs to be further investigated.
The aim of our work,
which is still in progress,
is:
- to evaluate by means of a questionnaire the knowledge of radiation protection of medical students and radiology residents
- to verify if current teaching is adequate to give future doctors an appropriate knowledge
- to verify if changes of radiology residents curriculum are needed