Effect of physicians’ smoking status on their knowledge, attitude, opinions and practices of smoking cessation in a University Hospital, in Egypt

Abstract

Background: The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats. Smoking prevalence and smoking cessation intentions among physicians vary from a country/community to another. Recently, a global reduction in the rates of smoking among healthcare providers is observed. Aim: This study aims to describe the effect of physicians' smoking status on their knowledge, attitude, opinions, and practices of smoking cessation in patients in a Tertiary Healthcare University Hospital in Cairo, Egypt. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at four specialized hospitals in a Tertiary Healthcare University Hospital in Cairo. Anonymous questionnaires included sociodemographic, occupational data, history of smoking, smoking-related knowledge, attitude, and practices of smoking cessation counselling. Results: The study included 521 physicians, 26.5% of physicians have never received training on smoking-cessation approaches. The prevalence of current smoking among the studied physicians was 21.5%. Only 45.5% of smoking physicians have never smoked in front of a patient and 27.7% have no compliance to the smoke-free policy in nonsmoking areas. Smoking physicians were significantly less likely than nonsmokers to identify the effect of passive smoking on the heart, lungs, and on neonates (67.9, 58.9, and 53.6% compared with 83.6, 77, 60, and 56.7%, respectively). A lower percentage of smoking physicians (34.8%) agreed that smoking physicians are less likely to convince patients to quit smoking compared with about 60% of nonsmoking physicians. The practices related to smoking cessation as reported by both smokers and nonsmokers were inadequate. Conclusion: Smoking status significantly affects the knowledge, attitude, and some practices of physicians related to smoking cessation counselling. Training on smoking cessation should be enforced during undergraduate and postgraduate studies of physicians.

Occupational health professionals’ attitudes, knowledge, and motivation concerning smoking cessation—Cross-sectional survey

“…This is consistent with other studies that have shown that smoking habits among health care professionals correlate strongly with their attitudes toward providing SCTS practices. [32][33][34][35] We found that the scores for all the attitude variables were high and that the differences between the OH professionals were only small. The OH professionals had a positive attitude toward implementing more SCTS than they currently provided.…”

Tobacco use pattern and quitting behaviour among healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic: Insights from a pan India online survey

“…Reduction in tobacco use among tobacco users in general population was less compared to our study [Chertok. 20 : 38.3% decreased smoking and 21.3% decreased frequency; Streck et al 21 : 21.0% reported smoking less; Yingst et al 22 : 15% reported decrease in their tobacco use).]. Similarly, tobacco quit attempt was lower among the tobacco users in general population as reported by Chertok.…”

“…The proportion of HCPs (24.1%) in our study whose tobacco use did no change during the pandemic was very less compared to general population as reported by Chertok. 20 (43.3%), Streck et al 21 (44.0%) and Gupte et al 23 (70.0%). The HCPs are a special group and highly informed.…”

“… 19 Moreover, what is more concerning that HCPs who are tobacco users themselves less likely elicit tobacco related behaviour and advice for tobacco cessation among their patients. 20 , 21 Thus, detailed exploration of tobacco related behaviours and their attributes of HCPs is need of the hour.…”

Understanding Smoking Behavior among Physicians in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…However, some studies have reported that the smoking status of physicians can affect their role in offering such services; that is, nonsmokers tend to engage in a significantly higher frequency of patient counseling than current smokers do. 12,13 Moreover, few published studies have discussed this complex issue and examined whether common cessation methods that might work with the general population can be generalized to physicians. 14,15…”