Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T01:16:01.887Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Knowledge and practices of tobacco dependence treatment among junior doctors in a Malaysian teaching hospital

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2014

Amer Siddiq Amer Nordin*
Affiliation:
University of Malaya Centre of Addiction Sciences (UMCAS), University of Malaya
Farizah Mohd Hairi
Affiliation:
Centre for Population Health (CePH), Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya
Christopher Bullen
Affiliation:
The National Institute for Health Innovation, University of Auckland
Mohd Khairuddin Mohd Sobri
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya
*
Address for correspondence: Amer Siddiq, Amer Nordin, University of Malaya Centre of Addiction Sciences (UMCAS) Aras 21, Wisma R&D UM Jalan Pantai Baharu 59200 Kuala Lumpur Email: [email protected]

Abstract

Introduction: Junior doctors are ideally placed to assist smokers quit yet little is known about their knowledge and practices.

Aims: To determine knowledge and practices in providing smoking cessation support, among junior doctors in a Malaysian teaching hospital.

Methods: In 2012, all junior doctors at University Malaya Medical Centre were invited to complete a self-administered questionnaire. The data were collated and analysed using standard descriptive methods.

Results/Findings: Seventy per cent (n = 122/173) of those eligible completed the questionnaire, 71% reporting cessation training at medical school. Most (90%) asked patients their smoking status but only 52% asked about quitting. Sixty-one per cent lacked confidence in providing assistance to quit, especially female doctors (70.8%, p<0.01). Most (80%) were unaware of local cessation clinics, and over half (59%) were unaware of the existence of guidelines for smoking cessation (p<0.001).

Conclusions: Asking about smoking was undertaken at satisfactory levels, but low knowledge, confidence and skills among this group of junior doctors indicates that cessation education should be included in undergraduate and in postgraduate curriculum training programmes. Awareness of specialist services and guidelines should be raised. Our findings are unlikely to be unique to this hospital, suggesting the need for a nationally consistent approach.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Australian Academic Press Pty Ltd 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdul Kadir, R., Amer Siddiq, A.N., Yahya, N.A., Rusdi, A.R., Hazli, Z., Hussain, H. (2013). Audience Response System (ARS) technology and dentist attendance in smoking cessation workshop. Sains Malays, 42, 15.Google Scholar
Amer Siddiq, A.N. (2012). From New Zealand to Malaysia: making smoking free agenda for psychiatrists in Malaysia. ASEAN Journal of Psychiatry, 13 (2).Google Scholar
Australia Institute of Health and Welfare. (2011). 2010 National Drug Strategy Household Survey report. Drug Statistics Series no 25. Canberra: AIHW.Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2003). Cigarette smoking-attributable morbidity-United States 2000. MMWR Morbidity Mortality Weekly Report, 52, 842844.Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Current cigarette smoking among adults- United States. MMWR Morbidity Mortality Weekly Report, 61 (44), 889894.Google Scholar
Institute for Public Health. (2012). Report of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) Malaysia 2011. Malaysia: Ministry of Health.Google Scholar
Lee, M.L., Hassali, M.A., Shafie, A.A., Abdul Aziz, A.M. (2011). Challenges of pharmacist-managed smoking cessation services – a viewpoint. Nicotine Tobacco Results, 13, 504505.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ministry of Health. (2003). Clinical Practice Guideline of Tobacco Use and Dependence. Malaysia: Ministry of Health.Google Scholar
Ministry of Health. (2012). The Health of New Zealand Adults 2011/12: Key Findings of the New Zealand Health Survey.Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Health.Google Scholar
Sreeramareddy, C., Suri, S., Menezes, R., et al. (2010). Self-reported tobacco smoking practices among medical students and their perceptions towards training about tobacco smoking in medical curricula: a cross-sectional, questionnaire survey in Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Substance Abuse Treatment and Prevention Policy, 5, 29.Google Scholar
Stead, L.F., Bergson, G., Lancaster, T. (2008). Physician advice for smoking cessation. Cochrane Database System Review, Issue 2.Google Scholar
Stead, L.F., Perera, R., Bullen, C., Mant, D., Lancaster, T. (2008). Nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation (Review). Cochrane Database System Review, Issue 3.Google Scholar
Tee, G.H., Hairi, N.N., Hairi, F. (2012). Attitudes towards smoking and tobacco control among pre-clinical medical students in Malaysia. International Journal of Tuberculosis Lung Disease, 16, 11261128.Google Scholar
Warren, C.W., Jones, N.R., Chauvin, J. (2008).Tobacco use and cessation counselling: cross-country. Data from the Global Health Professions Student Survey (GHPSS), 2005–7. (2008). Tobacco Control, 17, 238247.Google Scholar
Wee, L.H., West, R., Bulgiba, A., Lion, S. (2011) Predictors of 3-month abstinence in smokers attending stop-smoking clinics in Malaysia. Nicotine Tobacco Results, 13, 151156.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization. (2003). Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO Press.Google Scholar
Yaacob, I. and Abdullah, Z.A. (1994). Smoking behavior, knowledge and opinion of medical students. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 7, 8891.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed