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. 2024 Sep 19:18:1929-1938.
doi: 10.2147/PPA.S466115. eCollection 2024.

Exploring Patient Preferences for Information About CT Radiation Exposure: Bridging the Gap Between Patient Preference and Physician Practice

Abdullah A Alrasheed  1   2 , Abdulrahman M Alammar  3
Affiliations

Exploring Patient Preferences for Information About CT Radiation Exposure: Bridging the Gap Between Patient Preference and Physician Practice

Abdullah A Alrasheed et al. Patient Prefer Adherence. .

Abstract

Background: CT scan utilizes ionizing radiation poses a danger to the patient's health. Thus, telling the patient about ionizing radiation would be critical in promoting shared decision-making and improving patient-doctor communication. However, few studies have examined this topic broadly.

Objective: The study was conducted to identify the frequency of physicians informing patients about the radiation risk before ordering a CT scan, as well as to examine the association between patients' demographic characteristics and their awareness of the radiation risks associated with CT scans.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 387 patients who had undergone CT scans at a tertiary hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Data were collected via phone interviews using a structured questionnaire. Chi-squared tests were employed to assess associations between patients' demographic characteristics and their awareness of CT scan radiation risks.

Results: When examining knowledge, 58% of patients knew that CT involves harmful radiation. This knowledge was significantly associated with higher education level and previous experience with CT scans. Regarding doctors' practice of providing information to patients about the scan, 344 (88.9%) patients indicated that their doctor had explained to them why they needed the scan. Only 28 (7.2%) patients stated that their doctor had mentioned the amount of radiation, and 74 (19.1%) patients indicated that doctors mentioned the risks associated with the radiation of the scan. Almost all patients (96.9%) preferred to be told about why they needed a CT scan.

Conclusion: The vast majority of patients who underwent CT scans did not receive enough information about the harm of the scans. However, most of them preferred to know about this harm.

Keywords: CT radiation exposure; cross-sectional study; doctor-patient communication; informed consent; patient preferences; radiation risks.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. This paper has been uploaded to research square server as a preprint: https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-3956987/v1

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Patients’ knowledge about harmful radiations. The figure on the left “red” bars represents the percentage correct answer of harmful radiation (Yes). The figure on the right “green” bars represents the percentage correct answer of non-harmful radiation (No).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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