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Abstract

This study asserts the following: first, physician knowledge of radiation exposure and risk in medical imaging is low at baseline; second, physician knowledge significantly improves with very modest educational efforts; and third, baseline knowledge is higher in radiologists than in the other specialists tested. None of these assertions is weakened by excellent participant performance on the postpresentation examination. Such performance supports the second assertion and has no bearing on the first or third. Discrimination of the pre-presentation test was much better, and the poor discrimination on the postpresentation test serves only to demonstrate that with very modest educational efforts, physician knowledge of medical radiation can be standardized at a high level of competency. Comments on “Physician Knowledge of Radiation Exposure and Risk in Medical Imaging”Journal of the American College of RadiologyVol. 15Issue 3PreviewHobbs et al, in their article “Physician Knowledge of Radiation Exposure and Risk in Medical Imaging” [1], have analyzed the knowledge of physicians with different specialties about radiation exposure and risk in diagnostic imaging and also assessed the effectiveness of a short educational program on improving physicians’ knowledge. These researchers concluded that the knowledge of health care providers about radiation exposure and its associated risk was low at baseline. However, they report that after a brief educational presentation, this knowledge significantly increased. Full-Text PDF