Paediatric imaging radiation dose awareness and use of referral guidelines amongst radiology practitioners and radiographers

Insights into Imaging

Table 2 Summary of correct responses obtained for the five true-false statements relating to radiation protection principles, regulations, and potential for increased radiation risk for paediatric patients

True–False statements	Answer	Correct responses, n (%)
True–False statements	Answer	Radiology practitioners (n = 12)^a	Radiographers (n = 100)^a
The benefit of performing a medical imaging examination should be similar to the associated risks involved	False	11 (91.7)	84 (85.7)
It is estimated that paediatric patients have a 2 to 5 times higher lifetime cancer risk per unit dose of radiation when compared to adults	True	10 (90.9)	81 (83.5)
Maltese and European legislation stipulate that each medical exposure to ionising radiation must be justified	True	12 (100.0)	99 (99.0)
Optimisation refers to the principle by which each medical radiation exposure must provide the best image quality for diagnosis, irrespective of the radiation dose involved	False	9 (75.0)	95 (95.0)
Every single exposure to ionising radiation is cumulative and therefore increases an individual’s lifetime cancer risk	True	10 (83.3)	84 (84.0)

^aSince some respondents chose not to answer particular questions, percentages are based on total number of responses obtained