Tobacco use and cessation counseling in India-data from the Global Health Professions Students Survey, 2005-09.

CONTEXT

Tobacco use by health professionals reflects the failure of healthcare systems in protecting not only beneficiaries of the system but also those involved in health care delivery.

AIM

The aim of this study was to report findings from the Global Health Professions Students Survey (GHPSS) conducted in medical, dental, nursing and pharmacy schools in India.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Indian dental and medical schools (in 2009), nursing (in 2007), and pharmacy (in 2008) schools.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Anonymous, self-administered GHPSS questionnaire covering demographics, tobacco use prevalence, secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure, desire to quit smoking and training received to provide cessation counseling to patients was used.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Proportions and prevalence were computed using SUDAAN and SPSS 15.0.

RESULTS

Current cigarette smoking and other tobacco use ranged from 3.4-13.4% and 4.5-11.6% respectively, in the four health professional schools, with the highest numbers for medical schools and males. Enforcement of smoking ban in medical schools was low (53%) compared to nursing (86.4%), pharmacy (85.5%), and dental (90.8%) schools. Ninety percent students thought health professionals have a role in giving smoking cessation advice to their patients. Three out of five current smokers wanted to quit. However, one out of two reported receiving help/advice to quit. Although all expressed the need, 29.1-54.8% students received cessation training in their schools.

CONCLUSION

Tobacco control policy, cessation training and initiatives to help students quit smoking should be undertaken.