Abstract

This study is to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice about ionizing radiation among nurses who are working in Orthopaedic theatres in Teaching Hospital-Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. A descriptive cross-sectional study included all nursing officers working in Orthopaedic theatres. A self-administered, pretested, content-validated questionnaire has been used to collect the data. After the initial data collection, a health education program was organized for the participants and again the same questionnaire was distributed and the responses were recorded. Data analysis was performed using SPSS (v23). Female comprises 76.2% of participants. The majority of them (61.9%) had been assisted with more than fifteen cases per month. 85.7% of participants did not obtain any training program in radiation safety. Though the usage of certain radiation protection gears was poor initially, there is a significant increase in usage noted after the intervention (p-0.0534).  The knowledge of the ALARA principle significantly improved after the health education programme (p-0.0474). In addition to that, awareness of the adverse effects of radiation also has been significantly enhanced after the intervention (p-0.0253).Radiation safety awareness is poor among nursing officers. Frequent studies in various institutions will help to identify the deficit properly. Simple interventions like health education programmes will assist to help to enhance the knowledge and the quality of service.

Key words: Radiation protection gears, ionizing radiation, occupational hazard, safe dose, teratogenicity.