Background: Radiation is a recognized and essential component of medical practice, X-rays and radiological procedures related to their use are becoming important diagnostic and therapeutic tools in medicine. Participants and Methods: A cross sectional observational study was conducted in Al- Qunfudhah Saudi Arabia from November 2022-January 2023 on 189 of the 5th, 6th year medical students, medical interns and residents' males, females at three governmental hospitals: Al- Qunfudhah general hospital, south Al-Qunfudhah general hospital and Al-Mudhaylif general hospital. Data was collected using an electronic form of self-administered questionnaire. Results: The prevalence of poor, fair and good knowledge about radiation exposure and risk in medical imaging among the participants was 82%, 17% and 1% respectively. 77% reported that MRI is a non-ionizing radiation, 63% classified mammography as ionizing radiation and 52% reported Uranium as the biggest source of radiation in daily life. About 65% reported that the most health risk caused by radiation exposure was cancer and 71.5% agreed that leukemia result from large radiation exposures. Only 29% reported that the amount of radiation dose induced cataract is 2.5 Gy, 33.5% reported gray is the unit of the equivalent dose and 28.5% reported the annual recommended dose to the whole body is 50 mSv (5rem). 37% of the medical staffs knows the ALARA principle, 35.5% of them aware about the radiation exposure hazards papers and 36% of them knows carcinogenic medical X-rays. Conclusion: A low level of knowledge about radiation exposure and risk was found among participants.
Keywords: Ionizing radiations, hazards, knowledge, physicians, Al-Qunfudhah