| dc.description.abstract | Introduction: IR is an emerging and expanding specialty that has a role in many health care disciplines and services, particularly oncology, cardiovascular medicine, trauma, and urology. IR also has many clinical applications and better outcomes, and the procedures performed are minimally invasive and less complicated than routine surgery. Interestingly, it has been reported that new IR procedures are being developed at a rate of 3.5% annually and that an estimated US$108.3 million could be saved each year if just eight surgical procedures were replaced by IR procedures. (Baerlocher MO.2007). However, the harsh reality is that IR is suffering from an increasing shortage in manpower that is impeding the expansion and use of IR procedures, and very small numbers of qualified interventional radiologists are presently serving very large populations. According to the 2016 Clinical Radiology UK Workforce consensus report, growth in the radiology workforce is not keeping up with the demands made on radiology services. The low recruitment rate can be explained by a lack of knowledge and understanding of IR on the part of undergraduate medical students, who are our future doctors (Tang QH, 2020) Therefore, this study aimed at assessing the knowledge and attitudes of Makerere university undergraduate radiography students towards interventional radiological procedures done in Mulago hospital.
Methods: This study was based on surveys administered over a one-month period (1st - 31st December 2023). twenty-seven undergraduate radiography students of Makerere University, Uganda were included. The questionnaire was based on a validated questionnaires used previously in European, Saudi and Canadian similar studies.
The questionnaire consisted of 23 questions covering perception, knowledge, and interest of interventional radiology
Results: The majority of the respondents (52%) felt their knowledge in IR is poor. Only 40% of the respondents either completed or plan to complete an elective rotation in radiology. Thirty-eight percent of respondents were willing to consider a career in IR. The most common reason (43%) for not considering a career in IR was lack of knowledge. Only 33% correctly identified the route of training of interventional radiologist.
Conclusion: Awareness of and exposure to IR is poor among medical students, and can only be increased by a direct contribution from IR physicians to the undergraduate curriculum. Lack of a unified radiology curriculum in medical schools across the country should be addressed by the Council of Deans of Uganda Medical Schools. | en_US |
