ABSTRACT
Background: Radio-diagnostics has become widespread nowadays for identification of diseases, however, a lot of patients, especially females of reproductive age lack awareness of risk factors involved with ionizing radiations. This study aimed to assess the awareness regarding the risk of radiation exposure to female patients and evaluation of the medical staffs' efforts to exclude pregnancy prior to sending patients for radiology examination
Methods: Three-part questionnaires were used for evaluation of reproductive aged female patients who were undergoing investigations with ionizing radiations in January 2017 at Radiology Department in King Abdul-Aziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Results: 43.7%, 65.3%, and 89.6% of physicians, radiologists and receptionists respectively, ask about pregnancy while only a few of them asked about possibility of pregnancy and the first day in last menstrual cycle of the patient. Overall, 91% and 75.2% of patients estimated the risk of cancer from chest radiography and CT respectively; being very small. However, 76.6% of patients correctly thought that CT gave more amounts of radiation than X-rays and 61.3% of patients agreed that it is more important for their physician to diagnose their condition with CT than to worry about the radiation exposure
Conclusion: These data suggests that females have incomplete understanding about risks associate with radiations, in addition to which most of clinical practitioners also do not ask about the possibility of pregnancy which puts patients at a greater risk
ABSTRACT
Background and Aims: Blood donation [BD] is described as altruistic behavior and one of the life-saving practices. The deficit of blood supply from BD has become a global concern. Knowledge, attitude, practice, and motivation play a key role in BD. This study is aimed to determine the factors that hinder the healthy individuals who have not donated blood yet from BD, by exploring the demographic and other variables among the citizens of Jeddah city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [KSA]
Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out at Faculty of Medicine, King Abdul-Aziz University [KAU], Jeddah, KSA, between June 01, 2016 to June 30, 2016. The study included 327 participants who were selected by convenient random sampling in the Jeddah City. The data was collected by using the online distribution of the previously validated questionnaire
Results: Half of the participants [51.1%] have good knowledge about BD. More than two-thirds of participants showed a positive attitude towards BD. Majority of participants [87.7%] claimed that they will donate blood if the recipient is a friend or relative. The most chosen reasons for not donating blood among participants were BD did not cross their minds [23.9%], no time for BD [17.1%] and fear of needles [13.8%]. Mobile blood campaign [84.4%] and one day off [83.2%] were important motivating factors for most of the participants. Almost half of the participants [52.29%] mentioned that BD should be non-remunerable, 26.61% agreed that remuneration is a motive and 21.10% believe that any form of gift is acceptable as a motivating factor for BD
Conclusion: Although most of the participants have good knowledge and positive attitude towards BD, still numerous potential and eligible donors evade BD. More awareness and motivational programmes are required to bring more individuals to the pool of regular donors