Smoking Cessation Counseling by Surgical and Nonsurgical Residents: Opportunities for Health Promotion Education

摘要

BACKGROUND: Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in North America and a major contributor to surgically treated diseases and operative complications. Counseling by residents can be an effective means of helping patients to quit smoking, and with the introduction of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and CanMEDS competency frameworks, health promotion is a required component of residency training. However, past studies have found that smoking cessation counseling by residents, and in particular surgical residents, is lacking. In light of the introduction of health promotion as a core competency in residency training, this study was designed to examine the attitudes and practices of residents at our institution regarding smoking cessation counseling, comparing surgical and nonsurgical residents and seeking to identify barriers to resident counseling.