A new survey of popular attitudes about medical imaging, released at the RSNA 2011 meeting in Chicago, has found that consumer familiarity with specific imaging applications breeds consumer confidence and a willingness to consent to its prescribed use.
Sponsored by Siemens Healthcare, the randomized telephone survey of 1,015 adults in the U.S. established a direct correlation between knowledge about medical technology and acceptance of an imaging test.
Of the technologies highlighted in the survey, consumers were most aware of medical x-rays (96%) and would move forward with the physician's recommendation for a medical x-ray in the survey scenario (88%).
They were least familiar with nuclear heart scan technology, with just over one-third (39%) of surveyed consumers having received or heard of the test, and only 28% of respondents indicating they would follow a physician's recommendation for a nuclear heart scan in that particular scenario.
The survey found that 90% of U.S. adults could correctly identify, in response to an open-ended question, the primary use of medical imaging tests, citing either use as a diagnostic tool to find out what's wrong, to see internally what can't be seen otherwise, or as a noninvasive procedure instead of exploratory surgery as the top reasons.
Roughly two in five respondents (41%) volunteered radiation exposure as a risk associated with medical imaging tests (also in response to an open-ended question). Yet U.S. adults are unsure which technologies use radiation to produce images and which do not, according to the survey.
Of the respondents surveyed, 23% cited ultrasound technology and 60% cited MRI when asked which technologies use radiation to produce images.
Despite the perceived risk of radiation exposure, when respondents reviewed all the options in the five survey scenarios, they indicated nearly 80% of the time that they would proceed with a medical imaging test that their physician recommended. These results suggest that many Americans recognize that the benefits of medical imaging outweigh potential concerns about radiation.
Oversight for the Siemens-sponsored survey was provided by the Siemens Radiation Reduction Alliance (SIERRA), an expert panel established to advance the cause of dose reduction in medical imaging. Panelists include Cynthia McCollough, PhD, a medical physicist from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and Dr. Marilyn Siegel, a professor of radiology and pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
Braun Research conducted the surveys. Interviews were conducted via telephone from October 3 to 23, 2011, with 1,015 adults in a random sample of households (one interview per household), including 331 cellphone households. Sampling error is no more than ± 3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
