Department of Community Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Melaka, Malaysia.
Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy. 2010 Nov 16;5:29. doi: 10.1186/1747-597X-5-29.
Tobacco smoking issues in developing countries are usually taught non-systematically as and when the topic arose. The World Health Organisation and Global Health Professional Student Survey (GHPSS) have suggested introducing a separate integrated tobacco module into medical school curricula. Our aim was to assess medical students' tobacco smoking habits, their practices towards patients' smoking habits and attitude towards teaching about smoking in medical schools.
A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was carried out among final year undergraduate medical students in Malaysia, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire included items on demographic information, students' current practices about patients' tobacco smoking habits, their perception towards tobacco education in medical schools on a five point Likert scale. Questions about tobacco smoking habits were adapted from GHPSS questionnaire. An 'ever smoker' was defined as one who had smoked during lifetime, even if had tried a few puffs once or twice. 'Current smoker' was defined as those who had smoked tobacco product on one or more days in the preceding month of the survey. Descriptive statistics were calculated.
Overall response rate was 81.6% (922/1130). Median age was 22 years while 50.7% were males and 48.2% were females. The overall prevalence of 'ever smokers' and 'current smokers' was 31.7% and 13.1% respectively. A majority (> 80%) of students asked the patients about their smoking habits during clinical postings/clerkships. Only a third of them did counselling, and assessed the patients' willingness to quit. Majority of the students agreed about doctors' role in tobacco control as being role models, competence in smoking cessation methods, counseling, and the need for training about tobacco cessation in medical schools. About 50% agreed that current curriculum teaches about tobacco smoking but not systematically and should be included as a separate module. Majority of the students indicated that topics about health effects, nicotine addiction and its treatment, counselling, prevention of relapse were important or very important in training about tobacco smoking.
Medical educators should consider revising medical curricula to improve training about tobacco smoking cessation in medical schools. Our results should be supported by surveys from other medical schools in developing countries of Asia.
发展中国家的烟草问题通常是在出现相关话题时非系统地进行教学。世界卫生组织和全球卫生专业学生调查（GHPSS）建议在医学院课程中引入单独的综合烟草模块。我们的目的是评估医学生的吸烟习惯、他们对患者吸烟习惯的实践以及对医学院教授吸烟的态度。
在马来西亚、印度、尼泊尔、巴基斯坦和孟加拉国的最后一年本科医学生中进行了横断面问卷调查。匿名、自我管理的问卷包括人口统计学信息、学生目前对患者吸烟习惯的实践、他们对医学院烟草教育的看法，采用五点李克特量表。吸烟习惯的问题改编自 GHPSS 问卷。“曾经吸烟者”定义为一生中吸烟的人，即使只吸过几口烟。“当前吸烟者”定义为在前一个月的调查中，有一天或多天吸烟的人。计算描述性统计数据。
总体回复率为 81.6%（922/1130）。中位数年龄为 22 岁，其中 50.7%为男性，48.2%为女性。“曾经吸烟者”和“当前吸烟者”的总体患病率分别为 31.7%和 13.1%。大多数学生（>80%）在临床实习期间询问患者吸烟习惯。只有三分之一的学生进行了咨询，并评估了患者戒烟的意愿。大多数学生同意医生在烟草控制方面的作用是作为榜样、掌握戒烟方法、咨询以及在医学院进行烟草戒烟培训的必要性。约 50%的人同意当前课程教授烟草，但不是系统地教授，应该作为一个单独的模块。大多数学生表示，关于健康影响、尼古丁成瘾及其治疗、咨询、预防复发的主题在烟草吸烟培训中是重要的或非常重要的。
医学教育者应考虑修订医学课程，以提高医学院的烟草戒烟培训。我们的结果应该得到亚洲发展中国家其他医学院的调查支持。
