Karolina Dambrauskaite¹, Juste Buciunaite¹, Vaida Sipaviciene^{1, 2}

 

¹Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Medical faculty, Kaunas, Lithuania.

²Hospital of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Kauno Klinikos Radiology Department, Kaunas, Lithuania.

 

ABSTRACT

 

Background: Adequate general knowledge (GK) of diagnostic radiology potentials and its safety among general population might affect patient health condition and clinical outcome. Poor awareness might result in over diagnosis, misdiagnosis and lead to iatrogenic or a late-diagnosed medical condition.

Materials and methods: Observational study has been carried out at the Radiology Department of The Hospital of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Kaunas Clinics. Adult patients who had a radiological examination from 1^st December 2017 until 1^st March 2018 were assigned to the study. The original survey included questions about the safety of the diagnostic radiology and its potentials. The participants were grouped according to the age, gender and education. Results were compared among the groups. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 23.0 software. Significance level p<0.05 was chosen for testing statistical hypothesis.

Results: 201 respondents participated in the survey. The general knowledge (GK) of diagnostic radiology of the study population equaled to 58% ± 17.28%. Knowledge of radiological safety was evaluated as 53.23% ± 18.13%, although knowledge about the potentials of diagnostic radiology was 65.37% ± 23.56% out of 100%. The GK of diagnostic radiology did not differ between gender (p>0.05), however, it was found that patients with vocational or university education had better GK of diagnostic radiology compared to patients with primary or secondary education. However, GK did not differ statistically significantly between vocational and university education groups (p>0.05). According to the respondents age it was found that in the group of age >55 y/o GK of diagnostic radiology was poorer compared to the group of 36-55 y/o respondents, significantly (p=0.01).

Conclusion: According to the study results it was estimated that patient awareness of diagnostic radiology does not depend on the gender, but on the age and education. GK of patients about diagnostic radiology is average.

Keywords: Diagnostic radiology; safety; diagnostic awareness; radiological imaging