Development and evaluation of a brief educational cartoon on trainee clinicians’ awareness of risks of ionising-radiation exposure: a feasibility pre-post intervention study of a novel educational tool to promote patient safety

Thurley, P., Bowker, R., Bhatti, I., Skelly, R., Law, R., Salaman, R., Young, B. and Fogarty, A. (2020) Development and evaluation of a brief educational cartoon on trainee clinicians’ awareness of risks of ionising-radiation exposure: a feasibility pre-post intervention study of a novel educational tool to promote patient safety. BMJ Open Quality, 9(4), e000900. (doi: 10.1136/bmjoq-2019-000900) (PMID:33246934)

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Abstract

Background: Over recent decades, CT scans have become routinely available and are used in both acute medical and outpatient environments. However, there is a small increase in the risk of adverse consequences, including an increase in the risk of both malignancy and cataracts. Clinicians are often unaware of these facts, and this represents a challenge for medical educators in England, where almost 5 million CT scans are done annually. New whiteboard methodologies permit development of innovative educational tools that are efficient and scalable in communicating simple educational messages that promote patient safety. Methods: A short educational whiteboard cartoon was developed to explore the prior observation that adolescents under the care of paediatricians had a much lower risk of receiving a CT scan than those under the care of clinicians who care for adults. This explored the risks after receiving a CT scan and strategies that can be used to avoid them. The educational cartoon was piloted on new doctors who were attending induction training at a busy teaching hospital. Results: The main output was the educational whiteboard cartoon itself. Before the new medical trainees’ induction, 56% (25/45) had received no formal training in radiation awareness, and this decreased to 26% (6/23) after the exposure to the educational cartoon (p=0.02). At baseline, 60% (27/45) of respondents considered that young females were at highest risk from exposure to ionising radiation, and this increased to 87% (20/23) after exposure to the educational cartoon (p=0.06). Conclusions: This proof-of-concept feasibility study demonstrates that whiteboard cartoons provide a novel and feasible approach to efficiently promote patient safety issues, where a short succinct message is often appropriate.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:This work was funded by a Behavioural Insights project grant from the Health Foundation.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Young, Dr Ben
Authors: Thurley, P., Bowker, R., Bhatti, I., Skelly, R., Law, R., Salaman, R., Young, B., and Fogarty, A.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > Mental Health and Wellbeing
Journal Name:BMJ Open Quality
Publisher:BMJ Publishing Group
ISSN:2399-6641
ISSN (Online):2399-6641
Published Online:27 November 2020
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2020 The Authors
First Published:First published in BMJ Open Quality 9(4): e000900
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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