Who will keep patients safe? The largest multi-centre survey of healthcare students exposes critical gaps in radiation safety education.

BACKGROUND

The increasing use of ionising radiation in medical diagnostics highlights the need for adequate education of future healthcare professionals in radiation protection. This study aimed to assess the level of radiation safety knowledge among healthcare students across different disciplines and years of study.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1,161 students from three Polish medical universities, representing medicine, nursing, radiography, physiotherapy, and paramedic programmes. The questionnaire evaluated knowledge of radiation protection principles, identification of imaging modalities involving ionising radiation, and estimation of relative radiation doses.

RESULTS

The mean percentage of correct answers was 30.1% (SD = 13.9%), indicating generally low levels of knowledge. Fifth-year students achieved the highest scores (41.7%), while fourth-year students performed the worst (23.4%). Physiotherapy students obtained the highest mean scores (36.7%), whereas paramedic students scored the lowest (25.9%). Significant differences were observed between years of study and fields of study (p < 0.001), although effect sizes were small. No significant differences were found between universities (p = 0.063). Students performed best in identifying imaging modalities and worst in radiation dose estimation. Notably, 21% of respondents reported no interest in radiation protection.

CONCLUSIONS

Healthcare students demonstrate insufficient knowledge of radiation protection, with only limited improvement across years of study. These findings highlight the need for structured, curriculum-integrated education to improve awareness and safe use of ionising radiation.