Knowledge Attitude and Practice of Radiology among Final Year Medical Students

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Moreover, for developing knowledge among students about radiation hazards and prevention, an effective medical education model would be helpful to disseminate information to those who have limited knowledge about radiology and radio-diagnostics. METHODS The study was a prospective analysis of the knowledge, attitude and practice of radiology among final year medical students of faculty of medicine, University of Jos, Plateau State in 2014. The data obtained from the structured questionnaire was entered into a computer to generate a computerized data base for subsequent analysis and processing using SPSS version 20. Statistical parameters were used for association between different variables. P value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. The results were presented in the form of tables, graphs and charts. RESULTS The sex distribution showed that males were 82 and females were 42. A lot of the students liked radiology as a specialty in medicine (101) and 19 students did not. The knowledge of radiology among the students were not good. Males are seen to have more interest in radiology as a subject (75) than females that had 26 students. Overall, 75 (92.6%) of males have interest in radiology compared to those that don’t have interest in radiology 6(7.4%). The result is statistically significant with a p=0.001. 26 (66.7%) of the females are interested in radiology compared to 13(33.3%) that are not interested in radiology. It is only 27(21.8%) students indicated their interest in specializing in radiology.35(28.2%) students believed that radiological practice are hazardous and 34(27.4%) of the students believed that there are adequate means in place to prevent much hazard with practice of radiology. CONCLUSION The students believed in the relevance of radiology in the medical school curriculum and its importance to future medical practice. There was no good knowledge of radiology among the student.