Abstract:The dose of radiation emitted by an X-ray source and delivered on a target depends on the source tube peak potential (kVp), the current time (mAs) and the source to film distance (FFD). There could be an harmful health effect on the patient if these exposure technique factors are not appropriately selected by the operators of these sources. Therefore the aim of this study is to survey the choice of these technique factors in X-ray departments in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, while undertaking some common diagnostic X-ray examinations. The common and mostly requested examinations considered were, Chest (PA), Skull (AP), Pelvis (AP) and Abdomen (AP). A total of 48 personnel, 952 adult volunteers in X-ray departments in nine Hospitals took part in the survey. The adults were age between 20-75 yrs and body weight 70 ± 13kg. Variations in the technique factors selected for the different examination were observed when compared with the values in CEC guidelines on quality criteria. The mean tube potential of 125 kVp selected for chest examination in this study is low compared to 180 kVp in the CEC. The mean mAs varies while some departments employed constant mAs for all examination and all patients not taking into account the body thickness of the patient. In skull and pelvis examination, some departments used lower kVps while some selected tube potentials within the CEC range of 70-85 kVp and 75-90 kVp respectively the mean FFD (162.0 cm) for chest in this study was within the CEC recommended value of 180.0 cm while low values of FFD were used in other examinations. Human and equipment factors were identified as possible reasons for the variations. The replacement of X-ray machines of more than 10 years, development of adequate and functional quality assurance programme for the facilities and retraining of the personnel are recommended as a panacea to minimize these variations.