ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Healthcare Professions Education
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1655457
Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Radiology Practitioners in Saudi Arabia toward the Use of Gonad Shields during Fluoroscopy-Guided Interventional Radiography
Provisionally accepted
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology, College of Applied Medical Sciences, University of Hail, Saudi Arabia, Hail, Saudi Arabia
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ABSTRACT Background: The utilization of gonad shields in interventional radiology (IR) settings plays a pivotal role in minimizing radiation risk for practitioners. Purpose: This study aims to assess the impact of experience, practitioners' opinion, education in radiation protection, practitioners' gender, workload and educational level, on the use of gonad shields. Methods: This cross-sectional questionnaire study comprised six hypotheses that were designed to fulfill the study's aim. Normality was assessed using skewness and kurtosis values within a specified threshold. Categorical variables were assessed using cross-tabulation and chi-square (χ²) test of independence. P-value<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The study included 527 participants (307 female and 220 male). There was a significant inverse association between years of experience and the frequency of gonad shield use (p<0.05). A direct relationship between practitioners' opinions on the importance of gonad shields and frequency of shield usage (p<0.05). It was clear that attending radiation protection training was more likely to encourage practitioners to follow gonad shielding protocols (p<0.05). No significant effect of gender and gonad shield usage (p=0.086). Practitioners with higher annual caseloads (>200 cases/year) reported more consistent use of gonad shields (p<0.05). Conclusion: Practice length but not workload is inversely related to the IR staff's attitude towards the gonads shield. Continuous radiation protection training is crucial for improving the commitment of IR staff to safety standards. No impact of gender on gonad shield usage was observed. Targeted refresher training, reinforcement of local guidance, and ensuring shield availability/workflow integration may strengthen occupational radiation-safety adherence in IR units.
Keywords: Fluoroscopy, interventional radiology, Gonad, Occupational hazards, Radiation exposure, Healthcare Attitudes
Received: 27 Jun 2025; Accepted: 04 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Alenezi, Alshammari and HASSIB. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mamdouh S Alenezi, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, College of Applied Medical Sciences, University of Hail, Saudi Arabia, Hail, Saudi Arabia
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