RESEARCH ARTICLE
Prospective Health Professionals’ Knowledge, Awareness, Attitude, and Practice Concerning MRI Safety
Fahad H. Alhazmi1, Walaa M. Alsharif1, Faisal A. Al Alrehily1, Sultan S. Aljohani1, Ziyad H. Alarawi1, Shrooq T. Aldahery2, Moawia Gemeraddin1, 3, *, Khalid M. Aloufi1, Abdullah F. Alshamrani1, Sultan A. Alshobi1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2023Volume: 16
E-location ID: e187494452307060
First Page: 1
Publisher ID: e187494452307060
DOI: 10.2174/18749445-v16-230717-2023-235
Article History:
Received Date: 24/01/2023Revision Received Date: 13/06/2023
Acceptance Date: 19/06/2023
Electronic publication date: 07/08/2023
Collection year: 2023

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been applied widely in clinical practices to acquire cross-sectional images of the body. Although MRI uses non-ionizing radiation, there are serious bioeffect hazards that can be associated with the use of strong electromagnetic fields (EMFs).
Purpose:
This study aims to explore prospective health professionals’ knowledge, awareness, attitude, and practice levels concerning MRI safety.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study was conducted on medical and allied medical students at Taibah University using an online questionnaire survey. Data were reported using descriptive statistics and Chi-squared tests to determine the differences based on selected demographic variables.
Results:
120 Prospective healthcare professionals completed the questionnaire. In the knowledge domain, 50% of participants agreed that patients with tattoos could be scanned. In the awareness domain, roughly 40% of participants reported being unaware of the new compatible pacemakers. In the attitude domain, less than 50% of participants were interested in attending MRI safety seminars. Only one significant borderline finding was identified concerning the awareness level between genders (P=0.053).
Conclusion:
This study showed that the knowledge level of MRI safety among prospective health professionals is within the acceptable level and also showed a high level of awareness and a moderately positive attitude regarding MRI safety. The results of this study are helpful for higher education institutions which will enable them to modify their curriculum content to fill the knowledge gaps in this area.