Abstract:
Hazardous working areas are life costing if we do not follow properly safety rules and
regulations of that particular work place. So many studies clearly show that health care
professionals who work with the sources of ionizing radiation medical machines are subjected to
radiation hazards. Therefore it is very important to assess the awareness level concerning
possible radiation hazards and radiation safety procedures of such workers frequently. In line
with this idea the researcher tries to examine radiation hazard protection awareness of radiation
oncologists of Tikure Anbessa (black lion) comprehensive specialized hospital which is one of
the oldest and the largest referral teaching hospital in the country.
In order to achieve the intended outcome of the study data was collected both qualitatively and
quantitatively using self-administered written questionnaires and observation checklist.
A well-structured; both closed-ended and open-ended questionnaires of 36 questions which are
grouped under 4 sections were given to the respondents in order to gather the necessary data for
the study.
A Cross-sectional department based study done by using purposive sampling method and taking
all radiation oncologists as a target population. All the quantitative data entered in statistical
package for the social science (SSPS) version 23 and analyzed for statistically significant
outcomes.
A total of 68 respondents out of 81 fill and return the questionnaire. Among this 48 (70.6%) are
male and 20 (29.4%) female.
According to the findings of the study, most of the radiation oncologists of Tikur Anbessa
specialized hospital have a good knowledge and awareness of radiation safety especially in areas
where the optimum radiation dose, about time of exposure of radiation, about ICRP principle of
as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) dose, about distance from radiation source, about
shielding of hazardous radiations and about use of personal dosimeters, and also they recognize
the hazardous nature of radiation emitted from radiation medical machines. But most radiation
oncologists do not use appropriate radiation safety equipments and didn‟t follow radiation safety
procedures properly
