Assessment of patients’ awareness and attitude towards radiation exposure in nnamdi azikiwe university teaching Hospital, Nnewi, Anambra state, Nigeria

Radiation exposure have been proven to be one of the major means of diagnosis which have gone a long way in improving health care services in diagnosis, treatment and patient management in severe cases. The aim of this study is to ascertain patients’ awareness and attitude towards radiation exposure in Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Nnewi, Anambra state Nigeria. This is a prospective cross sectional survey design of 284 respondents consisting of (50.4% male and 49.6% female) using a well-structured questionnaire. The result of this study indicated that 61.3% of the respondents had good academic qualification. 67.6% and 74.6% respectively showed respondents significant awareness and knowledge to the use of ionizing radiation. 27.5% where of the opinion that CT and Fluoroscopy uses higher ionizing radiation dose. 8.1% of the respondents agreed that one of the effect of radiation exposure is fetal anomaly. While 64.4% of the respondents feel relaxed in the diagnostic rooms. Therefore, a higher percentage of 74.6% revealed that the referring clinicians explained the importance of radiation exposure for their examination.The study further revealed that there is significant good knowledge and positive attitude to the use of ionizing radiation and towards radiation exposure within the population.