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Table 1 Questions about medical radiation use and radiation protection

From: Clinicians’ justification of imaging: do radiation issues play a role?

Questions

Response categories

To what extent are the listed factors important when you refer a patient for imaging?

Weighting of importance 1–6; 1 = very important, 6 = not important

 Radiation dose to patient

 

 Patient’s wish

 

 Impact on diagnosis

 

 Impact on treatment

 

 Impact on patient’s future health

 

Do you know of imaging referral guidelines where referrers can seek information on which investigations are indicated for which conditions?

Yes/no

Have you ever used such referral guidelines?

Yes/no

Do you refer patients for imaging in cases when you consider it most unlikely that the imaging results will affect treatment of the patient?

Yes/no

If yes, what is the proportion of such referrals among all your referrals (circa)?

1%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 50%

What are the reasons why you may refer when the imaging results most likely will not affect treatment? Please weight the listed reasons

Weighting of importance 1–4; 1 = very important, 4 = not important

 Patient expectations

 

 Give the patient the feeling of being taken seriously

 

 Lack of time, “get the patient out of the office”, discharge the patient

 

 Expectations from relatives

 

 Compensate for insufficient clinical examination

 

 Normal findings will reassure the patient

 

Please estimate the effective dose of the listed imaging procedures, compared to a chest x-ray (front and side projection). Please put a mark, even if you are uncertaina

Corresponding numbers of chest x-rays (front and side projection): 0–1, 1–10, 10–50, 50–200

 Cerebral CT

 

 Pelvic radiography

 

 Cerebral MRI

 

 Intravenous pyelography

 

 Chest CT

 

 Barium meal fluoroscopy

 

 Barium enema

 

 Abdominal CT

 

 Kidney ultrasound

 

 Thoracic spine radiography

 

 Sinus x-ray

 

 Sinus CT

 

We ask you to rank the contributors to the mean effective radiation dose for a Norwegian in 2006

Rank, 1 = largest contributor, 5 = smallest contributor

 Medical imaging

 

 Radon in homes

 

 Background gamma radiation

 

 Pollution from Sellafield in England

 

 Pollution from the Chernobyl nuclear plant accident

 

Detrimental effects of radiation are divided into deterministic and stochastic effects. Are you familiar with these terms? If yes, go to next question

Yes/no

This is a list of potential detrimental effects of radiation. Please mark whether you think these effects are stochastic or deterministic (one mark per effect)

Stochastic/deterministic

 Leukaemia

 

 Infertility

 

 Foetus abnormalities

 

 Genetic adverse effects

 

 Cataract

 

 Lung cancer

 
  1. aEstimates of effective dose were compared with national reference values or—when such values were lacking—with doses measured at the first author’s department