FREQUENCY OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND PRACTICES OF WORKPLACE RADIATION SAFETY AMONGST ANAESTHESIOLOGY TRAINEES AT TERTIARY CARE HOSPITALS OF SINDH AND BALOCHISTAN

Abstract

Objective: To determine knowledge, attitudes and practices of post graduate anaesthetist trainees of tertiary hospitals in Sindh and Balochistan, Pakistan, towards work place radiation safety. Study design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Department of Anaesthesia, Civil Hospital Karachi and other tertiary care government and private training hospitals from Sindh and Balochistan. Period: Six months. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 140 postgraduate anaesthetists who were selected by non-probability convenience sampling. The data was gathered by a structured, self-administered questionnaire which contained nine knowledge, four attitude and eleven practice questions regarding workplace radiation safety. The concepts of knowledge, attitude and practice were classified by a 50% cut-off point. The Chi square or Fisher's exact test were used to determine relationship between the participant characteristics and knowledge, attitude and practice level of the respondents, and p<0.05 was considered significant. Results: The mean age of the participants was 30.3 years ± 3.8 and 82 (58.6%) were male. 92 (65.7%), 116 (82.9%) and 85 (60.7%) participants had good knowledge, attitude and practice, respectively. Age (p=0.034), type of training institute (p=0.006), and year of FCPS training (p=0.003) were significant factors associated with knowledge. There was significant association between good knowledge and adequate attitude (p=0.006) and good practice (p<0.001) and between adequate attitude and good practice (p=0.001). Conclusion: The majority of postgraduate anaesthetists had satisfactory knowledge and attitudes towards workplace radiation safety; but workplace radiation-safety practices are still not optimal.