Assessment of the application level of radiation protection and awareness of radiation safety regulations among the radiographers at Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia

Abstract

A strong relation between cancers and radiation exposure has been reported. Radiation may damage DNA in the
cell. Therefore, radiation protection program must be applied in the radiology department. Morover, the radiographer
should have high level of awareness and risk assessment for radiation. Personal radiation monitoring is one of the
main radiation protection, especially for pregnant worker and her fetus. This study was conducted to evaluate the
application, awareness and risk assessment levels of radiation protection among radiographers at hospitals in
Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia. This was a descriptive study, applying a cross sectional survey at hospitals in
Yogyakarta. The subjects were radiographers of both governmental and private hospitals. There were 101 respondents
from a total of 124 radiographers. The data obtained were tabulated and analyzed using Chi Square test. The study
revealed that 69.3% of the respondents had low application level of radiation protection, 19.8% did not know the
meaning of ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable), 50.5% were not aware of Inverse Square Law. The study
also reported that 36.6% of the respondents did not know the amount of radiation that entered their body last year,
61.4% of radiographers thought that the risk assessment of radiation was not enough, 18.8% of radiographers
were never use any radiation monitoring device, and 90.1% stated that there was no additional protection or
radiation monitoring to the pregnant radiographer. However, there were no significant differences between duration
of working, type of imaging modality, academic level, and training course for radiation protection. In conclusion,
there was no difference in the application, awareness, and risk assessment levels of radiation protection among the
radiographers at hospital in Yogyakarta Special Region between duration of working, type of medical imaging modality,
academic level, and training on radiation protection. In addition, the application, awareness, and risk assessment
levels of radiation protection were not sufficient.
Key words: radiation protection – ALARA – radiographer – hospital – risk assessment