Parental involvement in medical imaging in the emergency department

Abstract

Background: Radiology uses different modalities to identify wide range of the problems, monitor response to treatment, and screen for diseases. As for children, parents or caregivers should be up-to-date about the benefits and risks of the management. Health care staff ordering or performing procedures have a communal responsibility to contact with the patients. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in AlAhsa, Saudi Arabia during the period from September to November 2021. Data were collected by using pre-structured questionnaire that distributed to parents whom visit ER department and their child went imaging study. The questionnaire consists of 4 parts (biographical data, sociodemographic data, child data and understanding the imaging procedure and radiation risks). Results: Out of 1344, 535 caregivers fulfilling the inclusion criteria completed the study questionnaire. The mean age of participants was 34.2 +/- 11.8 years old. Exact of 374 (69.9%) care givers were females. A total of 455 (85%) caregivers reported that the physician explains the main reason of doing radiation, 144 (26.9%) told that the physician explains risk of radiation, and 269 (50.35%) worried about the radiation toward their child. Exact of 192 (35.9%) caregivers had good awareness level regarding medical radiation exposure while 343 (64.1%) had poor awareness level. Conclusion: the study caregiver's involvement regarding reasons of child exposure to medical radiation was high but the discussion regarding risks of exposure was unsatisfactory and below caregiver's expectations.