Exploring Physician Attitudes Regarding Electronic Documentation of E-cigarette Use: A Qualitative Study

Area of Science:

• Medical Research
• Public Health
• Qualitative Research

Background:

• Physicians' knowledge and attitudes toward Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) are crucial for patient care.
• Understanding physician perspectives on ENDS safety and efficacy as a smoking cessation tool is vital.
• Current practices for documenting ENDS use in electronic health records (EHR) are not well-established.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore physicians' attitudes and knowledge regarding ENDS.
• To investigate physician beliefs about ENDS safety and efficacy for smoking cessation.
• To examine how physicians document ENDS use in the EHR.

Main Methods:

• Conducted 17 semistructured qualitative interviews with physicians.
• Selected 4 outpatient clinics to ensure diverse patient populations.
• Utilized qualitative analysis to identify key themes.

Main Results:

• Physicians feel uninformed about long-term ENDS health risks and lack knowledge for patient discussions.
• While not endorsing ENDS as safer than tobacco, one-third of physicians had no strong objections.
• Physicians varied in the importance they placed on documenting ENDS use.

Conclusions:

• Physicians rarely screen patients for ENDS use, even those receiving tobacco cessation counseling.
• A structured EHR data field for ENDS could increase screening and documentation.
• Physicians' guidance and documentation practices for ENDS use require further attention.