The new normal in clinical radiography education and practice in a Nigerian population post-COVID 19

INTRODUCTION: The COVID 19 pandemic affected various sectors of the global economy with consequences for clinical radiography practice and training. The objective of the study is to determine the availability of equipment/accessories and the attitude of radiographers toward infection control/ hygiene before and after the second wave of the COVID 19 pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional prospective research survey used questionnaires divided into two sections. Sections A and B were used to elicit the participants’ socio-demographic data and the availability of equipment/accessories as well as the hygiene/infection control practices by radiographers in two tertiary hospitals in Anambra state of Nigeria. The items in the questionnaire were reviewed by a panel of two experts for reproducibility and validity. The questionnaires were distributed to a sample of 80 radiographers selected by convenience sampling from a population of 90 radiographers that met the inclusion criteria. Descriptive statistics were used for analyzing the questionnaires at a 5% level of significance using the SPSS version 23. RESULTS: 30(33.3%) and 60 (66.7%) of the respondents were female and males respectively.80(89%), 0(0%), 10(11%), 20(22%) and 77(85.6%), 85(94.4%), 24(26.7%), and 69(76.7%) of the respondents used running water, alcohol sanitizers and disposable towels/wipes to clean their hands or disinfected the radiography equipment/accessories after attending to a patient before and after Covid 19 pandemic respectively. The availability and use of accessories/personnel protective equipment when attending to a suspected Covid 19 or infectious patient were 20(22%) pre- covid 19 and 84(93%) post- covid 19. Clinical radiography lectures and examinations for student radiographers involve social distancing 90(100%), use of face masks 90(100%), and online 70(78%), respectively. CONCLUSION: There is a transition to online lectures for clinical radiography students and improved personnel hygiene and cleanliness of radiography equipment/ accessories in the studied population post- COVID 19.