Emergency Doctors Poorly Educated on Radiation Risks

A study of emergency department (ED) doctors has revealed that most are undereducated about radiation doses used in diagnostic computed tomography (CT) scans and are not giving patients the information they need to make an informed decision about care.

Researchers surveyed 45 ED doctors and found that only 22% explained the risks and benefits of an abdominal/pelvic CT scans to patients. Only 9% reported mentioning radiation dose. The researchers say lack of knowledge is to blame. When they asked the doctors to compare the dose used in an abdominal/pelvic CT scan dose with the dose of a chest x-ray, only 22% indicated that the CT scan is 100-250 times higher than that of a chest x-ray. In all, 74% underestimated radiation dose, while 4% overestimated the dose.

"We as a profession need to do more,” said senior investigator Howard Forman, M.D., of Yale University School of Medicine (New Haven, CT, USA). "It's difficult because technology is changing so fast, but we need to take the time to educate our referring physicians about both the risks and benefits of radiologic procedures.” If they need more information on risks, they probably need more information on benefits as well, he noted. The study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society in San Diego (CA, USA).




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