Putting tobacco cessation and prevention into undergraduate medical education

Training medical students in tobacco prevention and cessation skills is critical to have competent physicians who are prepared to address the grave levels of morbidity and mortality associated with tobacco use. However, in India, enough attention has not been given to elicit the active participation of physicians in tobacco control. Keeping this in view, a program was undertaken to develop the skills and competence of medical students with the objective of improving medical student inquiry into smoking and the delivery of advice accordingly for patients in their clinical year's routine consultations.

The targeted learners were 149 1(st)-year medical and dental students of SCB Medical College, Cuttack, Orissa, India, who had appeared the second semester examination; 84 of the participants were male. Students were allowed to appear a test before the training session on knowledge of tobacco cessation and post test was done after 1.5 months of training. The knowledge score was evaluated to evaluate the learning outcome.

We observed that a curriculum on tobacco intervention could improve relevant knowledge, attitudes and self-confidence and be applied in students early clinical experiences.

There is need of joint action by practicing clinicians, the medical faculty and the curriculum planners of the country to incorporate tobacco cessation into the curriculum.