ASSESSMENT THE APPLICATION LEVEL OF RADIATION PROTECTION AND AWARENESS OF RADIATION SAFETY REGULATIONS AMONG THE RADIOGRAPHERS AT YOGYAKARTA PROVINCE- INDONESIA

Background: There is a strong relation between cancers and radiation expoure. Radiation may break or damage DNA in the cell. The application of radiation protection rules must be appled in the radiology department. The radiographer should have high level of awarness and risk assessement for radiation. Using the personal radiation monitoring is one of the main imprtant obligations for radiation protection, specially for the pregnant worker and her fetus. This study was emerged to assess the application and awareness level of radiation protection among the radiographers at hospitals of Yogyakarta province. Objectives: To evaluate the application level, awareness level and risk assessment level of radiation protection among the radiographers at Yogyakarta province. Method: It is a descriptive research, applying a cross sectional survey in hospitals of Yogyakarta province, while its subjects are the radiographers of both governmental and private hospitals. There are 101 respondents from the total population 124. The data obtained will be analyze with a yield cross tabulation Chi Square (α=0.05). Results: The study revealed that 69, 3% of the respondents had low application level of radiation protection, 19.8% did not know the ALARA meaning, 50.5% were not aware of Inverse Square Law. There results were 36.6% of the respondents did not know the amount of radiation that enters their body last year, 61.4% of radiographers think that the risk assessment of radiation is not enough, 18.8% of radiographers were never use any radiation monitoring device, 90.1% stated that there was no any additional protection or radiation monitoring to the pregnant radiographer. However, there were no significantly differences between years of working, type of imaging modality, academic level, and training course for radiation protection. Conclusions:There is no difference in the application level, awareness level, and risk assessment level of radiation protection among the radiographers at Yogyakarta province- Indonesia between years of working, type of medical imaging modality, academic level, and training on radiation protection. The application level, awareness level, and risk assessment level of radiation protection are not sufficient