Personalizing radiation protection in medical imaging: an Islamic approach

This paper aligns the Islamic worldview and other Islamic essences to radiation protection. Current guidelines on radiation protection lack in terms of punitive measures as well as the existence of differences in addressing non-compliances to radiation protection practices. The Islamic stance is non-separation of religious matters from one’s daily life, including in the professional environment. In this paper Medical imaging practitioners are introduced to three elements of the Islamic worldview and the other essences that emerge from their discussions. Spirituality, religiosity, the concept of retribution, Maqasid and Qawaid Al-Shariah and guiding principles of Ihsan, Itqan, Fitrah and Istiqomah can help shape the Muslim practitioner to accept radiation protection as more than a professional obligation. The onus upon the Medical imaging practitioner to consolidate his practice should be seen within the context of motivation and deterrence that those essences carry. Personalizing radiation protection thus becomes a personal Muslim professional virtue. Kajian ini menyelaraskan pandangan dunia Islam dan esens Islam yang lain bagi membangunkan perlindungan radiasi. Garis panduan semasa yang berkaitan dengan perlindungan radiasi mempunyai kekurangan dari segi ukuran punitif serta adanya perbezaan dalam menangani ketidakpatuhan kepada perlaksanaan membangunkan perlindungan radiasi. Pendirian Islam mempraktikkan agar tidak memisahkan perkara agama dari kehidupan harian seseorang, termasuk dalam lingkungan profesional. Kajian ini, pengamal perubatan pengimejandiperkenalkan kepada tiga elemen berasaskan pandangan dunia Islam dan esens lain yang didapati hasil daripada perbincangan mereka. Kerohanian, keagamaan, konsep pembalasan, Maqasiddan Qawaid Al-Shariahdan prinsip-prinsip panduan Ihsan, Itqan, Fitrahdan Istiqomahdapat membantu membentuk pengamal Islam untuk menerima perlindungan radiasi melebihi daripada tanggungjawab profesional. Tanggungjawab terhadap pengimejan perubatan bagi menyempurnakan praktiknya harus dilihat dalam konteks motivasi dan pencegahan yang dibawa oleh esens tersebut. Memperibadikan perlindungan radiasi itu menjadi kebajikan bagi seorng profesional Islam

Towards holistic radiation protection. Lessons from the literatures

The effects of radiation on man and his health had been noticed since the early years after the discovery of X-rays. These biological concerns were more commonly known as “radio-sensitiveness” in the early publications. Later, the term radiation protection was introduced to express the need for protective measures to be promoted, formulated, implemented, evaluated and sustained to reduce the biological effects associated with radiation exposure. The principles of radiation protection were then supported with the concepts of justification, ALARA and “Benefits against the risks”. But these could not ensure that the application of radiation protection has been optimized. Amidst the technological advancements associated with radiation based imaging modalities in healthcare for more than 120 years, those advancements have yet to be able reduce the impact of these modalities being a source of risks upon the more beneficial role as a diagnostic tool. This paper reports a review on radiation protection from articles indexed in an online database. Considering that the titles of the articles contain the core subject matter that a publication carries, data were retrieved on those titles with the term “radiation protection”. Publications from 2008 to middle of November 2017 and aligned to Medicine and Health professions were included for further elaborations. The data were classified into four subject areas; education and training, administration and organization, practice and research. Discussions within each classification and their individual sub-classifications, supported by selected publications to the classification, highlight the importance of the particular subject area to the overall concept of radiation protection. Lessons learnt from the classifications could provide the necessary guidance on how one should adopt and adapt the concept of radiation protection holistically. The discussions that are presented are seen within the professional obligation in adhering to the principles of radiation protection

Examining Islamic perspectives in articles in health sciences: a work in progress involving Scopus

Islamic perspectives can be effectively imbued in published articles to inform, modify or change beliefs, practice and values among the professionals. This study serves to examine the integration of Islamic perspectives in these articles, originating from Malaysia, indexed in SCOPUS under Health Sciences category. The SCOPUS database was used to generate the data. Using the Boolean operator “OR”,eleven (11) keywords, namely Islam, Islamic, "Islamic Worldview", "Islamic perspective", Muslim, Quran, Quranic, Hadith, Tauhid, Tawhid and Tawhidic were typed into the search tab. Those keywords were to appear either in the title or abstract or keywords of the article. Subsequently, only articles from Malaysia were selected for the study. Work is in progress to examine the identified articles to facilitate for further discussions related to the Islamic perspectives that they addressed. To date, ninety (90) articles from Malaysia were identified by Scopus. The keywords “Muslim” and “Islam” seem to be prominently used in these articles. The various themes of those studies are also analyzed to identify the different areas where Islamic perspectives can be further enhanced. The importance of Islamic terminologies in the title, abstract or keywords to generate interest towards the religion cannot be neglected. The use of Muslims as subjects of the studies, as well as Islamic countries, communities and institutions being mere sites of data collection, can give rise to a distorted perspective of what Muslims and Islam really present. Muslim professionals need to plan and initiate avenues to overcome that possibility. A careful examination of research areas could provide valuable directions in identifying the appropriate Islamic perspectives in the teaching and learning activities

Integration of Islamic perspectives into medical imaging curriculum: an outcome based education approach

This paper presents a conceptual approach to the integration of Islamic perspectives into a Medical Imaging Curriculum to the concept of Outcome-Based Education (OBE). This work is seen within the context of harmonising Islamic principles to a currently accepted concept in education. Although there have been discussions that question the concept of OBE, this paper contends that the integration can benefit from the practicality aspect of OBE. This can reduce the complexities and fatigue in addressing the integration using an educational approach that is different to that being applied to the human sciences. This paper features the main elements in OBE in the form of Islamic programme educational objectives, Islamic programme outcomes, and Islamic domain learning outcomes. The justification to use domain learning outcomes instead of course learning outcome is given. The teaching and learning strategies, as well as the assessment, are examined through a lens that serves to provide a desirable, practical and holistic model of Islamic integration. It is felt that the currently accepted teaching and assessment methodologies can be adapted for the integration exercise. This work also highlights two often overlooked elements of OBE; teacher and student characteristics. The various terminologies that describe the Islamic teacher characteristics and the differences in student learning styles and preferences are presented. Furthermore, suggestions are made to align the assessment of the integration to various taxonomies of learning, with the aim in evaluating the internalisation of the Islamic essences. This work contents that a holistic approach towards integration of Islamic perspectives into Medical Imaging curriculum can be realise