Tobacco dependence curricula in undergraduate osteopathic medical education.

CONTEXT

Tobacco use has been identified as the primary preventable cause of premature deaths and disability, yet results of a previous survey show that undergraduate allopathic medical schools do not adequately address this topic.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the content and extent of tobacco education and intervention skills in osteopathic medical schools' curricula.

DESIGN

A mailed survey with 19 questions similar to one used for allopathic medical schools.

SETTING

Nineteen osteopathic medical schools.

PARTICIPANTS

Responses were obtained from each associate dean for medical education or representative.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Curriculum in seven basic science and six clinical science content areas (elective or required), hours of tobacco use intervention education, and resource materials used to design curricula.

RESULTS

Average number of total content areas covered was 10.2 (6 +/- 1.6 basic science areas, 4.17 +/- 1.54 clinical areas) with a range of 2 to 13. Nine (47%) schools reported covering all seven basic science areas, and one school reported covering none. Eleven (64.7%) of seventeen schools reported less than 3 hours of training in tobacco dependence treatment techniques during all 4 years. Sixty percent of schools do not require clinical training in smoking cessation techniques. Thirty-six percent require clinical training in an artificial setting without patients. None of the schools require clinical training with live patients. The schools founded after 1920 covered an average of almost twice as many content areas as those founded before 1920 (11.1 vs 6.6; P = .018).

CONCLUSIONS

Most US osteopathic medical school graduates are not being adequately educated to treat nicotine dependence as recommended by the National Cancer Institute expert panel and the Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guideline. Specifically, osteopathic medical education is deficient in clinical nicotine dependence treatment during the third and fourth years.