Patients’ knowledge, perception and practices of the radiological services provided by radiographers at Kawempe Referral Hospital

Abstract

Introduction. There has been an increase in the global application of medical imaging in the diagnosis, monitoring and treating medical conditions. Since the advent of medical imaging, several measures have been taken to minimize the adverse effects of ionising radiation through improved technology and observation of the core principles of radiation protection. Patients’ knowledge, perception and practices have greatly improved in due achievement of better health services. In Uganda however, there is limited literature regarding patients’ knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding radiological services. It is upon this background that this study assessed patents' knowledge, perceptions and practices regarding the radiological services provided by radiographers at Kawempe Referral Hospital, Kampala. Methodology. This was a cross sectional study involving collection of quantitative data from 384 study participants. Systematic random sampling was used to select study participants. Data was collected using semi structured questionnaires developed from reviewed literature. The data entry and cleaning was performed using EpiData version 12. The data was analyzed using stata version 14. Proportions, measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode) were used to describe the study subjects. Results were summarized into graphs, tables, pie charts. Study findings will be published in scientific journals and conferences. Results 51.3% of the study respondents were Baganda, 45.6% aged between 26-35 years and 31.0% were peasants. Regarding patients’ knowledge, 82.0% did not know the precautions put in place to minimize medical radiation, 64.3% did not know the risks associated with medical radiation and 57.8% did not know the precautions to reduce the risk of exposure to medical radiations. Furthermore, 50.3% of the respondents reported to know about medical radiation and 50.8% reported to have undergone radiation treatment over 6 months from the time of the study. 53.6% of the respondents reported that the health risks associated with medical radiation are not serious at all, 42.7% perceived undergoing medical radiation exams as very scary and 50.3% agreed that radiation exposure posed risk to them and people surrounding them. Regarding patients’ practices, 50.5% of study respondents reported to have undergone an Ultra-sound scan and 54.2% reported to have undergone it within six months of the study. Conclusions and recommendations There was generally low knowledge and attitudes of study respondents regarding radiological services, as majority didn’t know about medical radiations and the risks associated with them. Study participants showed relatively good practices regarding radiological services. However, there was relatively frequent utilization of services as majority reported to have previously utilized them in the last 6 months. There should therefore be frequent sensitizations and health education of patients by the health workers regarding medical radiation so as to increase on the level of knowledge and change patients’ attitudes.