Compliance With the Legislation of the Smoking Cessation Clinic in Turkey

The number of smoking cessation outpatient clinics (SCCs) is increasing day by day in Turkey. The objective of this study is to evaluate the situation of smoking cessation clinics in our country.

The SCC list was obtained from the website of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Turkey. A total of 305 centers from 80 cities were called by telephone, and a questionnaire including questions about polyclinics was directed to SCC employees whose verbal consent was obtained.

Of the 305 SCCs, 183 could be reached, 33 of which did not provide outpatient services. A questionnaire was directed to 146 SCCs. A total of 347 doctors work in these centers. Of these 146 SCCs, 69 (47.3%) accepted patients with appointments and 77 (52.7%) accepted patients directly. The specializations of physicians in the SCCs were as follows: 84 (57.5%) were chest disease specialists, 30 (20.5%) were general practitioners, 10 (6.8%) were psychiatrists, 12 (8.2%) were other branch physicians, 6 (4.1%) were family physicians, and 3 (2.1%) were public health physicians. A total of 125 (85.6%) physicians working in SCCs received smoking cessation training. Only 35 (24%) SCCs have one or more provincial tobacco control members. Eighty (54.8%) SCCs had a separate SCC room, 74 (50.7%) had a waiting room for the patients, and 63 (43.2%) had a carbon monoxide (CO) measurement device in the SCC.

All physicians in Turkey are able to provide smoking cessation services, but the chest physicians are mostly responsible for this task. In addition to increasing the number of SCCs, it is very important to increase the quality and comply with the standards.