Mohamed Hasaneen¹* and Mustafa Alhasan^1,2

¹Radiography and Medical Imaging Department, Fatima College of Health Sciences, UAE
²Radiologic Technology Program, Applied Medical Sciences College, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Jordan

*Corresponding Author: Mohamed Hasaneen, Radiography and Medical Imaging Department, Fatima College of Health Sciences, UAE.

Received: August 13, 2021; Published: September 20, 2021

Citation: Mohamed Hasaneen and Mustafa Alhasan. “Awareness and Compliance of COVID-19 Imaging and Guidelines among Radiology Staff". Acta Scientific Microbiology 4.10 (2021): 56-62.

Abstract

Introduction: lack of knowledge and understanding of COVID-19 disease among radiology staff may result in rapid spread of the infection among them due to the screening of COVID-19 patients using Chest x-ray and Chest CT scan to diagnose the disease. Accordingly, the purpose of this cross-sectional study is to evaluate the level of awareness and compliance of COVID-19 imaging and guidelines among the radiology staff.

Methods: Across-sectional study was conducted among the radiology staff between September and November 2020. An online questionnaire was developed and shared with the participants from different regions. The questionnaire emphasized on COVID-19 Awareness, infection control procedures and the role of imaging for COVID-19 diagnosis.

Results: A total of 262 radiology staff agreed to participate in this study. 48% of the respondents were females. The average age was 36 years. The majority (71%) were bachelor holders. Among the participants, 91% were radiographers while 9% were radiologists. Regarding COVID-19 imaging section, the mean score (62%) was significantly higher for the Radiologists (P < 0.05). Regarding the health infection control questions, most of the respondents reported Sometimes to Always on the Likert scale (1-5) for applying the safety procedures. The job title, work experience and the location factors significantly predicted the COVID-19 imaging awareness scores (p < 0.05.).

Discussion: Awareness and compliance of COVID-19 imaging and infection control guidelines are important issues for the radiology staff to ensure their own safety and the efficient delivery of patient imaging procedures.

Conclusion: The radiology staff demonstrated an acceptable overall COVID-19 awareness level. The compliance with the infection control guidelines is above average. However, more COVID-19 imaging sessions are recommended to improve the overall performance.

Keywords: Awareness; Compliance; COVID-19; Imaging; Radiology; Guidelines

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Copyright: © 2021 Mohamed Hasaneen and Mustafa Alhasan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.