Smoking is one of the most common addictions worldwide. It causes damage to almost every organ of the body, most importantly lungs and heart. It is one of the leading causes of cancer nearly anywhere in the body. Despite the progress in Pakistan’s healthcare system and various attempts to eradicate smoking, it still burdens the economy and our health system. Smoking cessation is of utmost importance in this regard and can help alleviate this burden. Health care professionals (HCPs) greatly educate and motivate smokers to quit smoking and encourage them to opt for a healthy lifestyle. Hence HCPS needs to know about smoking cessation programs and resources and to further incorporate this in their consultation with patients who suffer from the health issues related to smoking. Regardless of the knowledge and awareness, doctors sometimes fail to properly educate and counsel patients in this matter, which is why we are conducting this study to identify the barriers faced by HCPs.
This study aimed to determine the practices and attitudes of healthcare professionals towards smoking cessation and identify the barriers to effective smoking cessation in tertiary health care.
A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to June 2023 amongst the HCPs of 9 tertiary care hospitals in Peshawar. The hospitals included Hayatabad Medical Complex, Khyber Teaching Hospital, Khyber College of Dentistry, Northwest General Hospital, Rehman Medical Institute, Rahman College of Dentistry, Peshawar Institute of Medical Sciences, Peshawar General Hospital, Lady Reading Hospital. A three-part self-administered questionnaire was given to participants of the study to fill out which comprised of attitude, practice, and barrier components. SPSS version 21 was used.
The overall results showed a „Good‟ attitude of 44.7% and a fair attitude of 55.3%, „Fair‟ practice of 54.4% and a „Good‟ practice of 45.6%. Regarding barriers 78.9% of HCPs agreed that the lack of smoking cessation programs offered at the hospital was the most common barrier, while the least common barrier was the personal barrier as 5% of practitioners accepted that smoking cessation is unnecessary.
Considering the qualifications of respondents and their effectiveness in counseling patients about smoking cessation in their routine checkup there was a significant P value of <0.05. On examining the relationship between the number of years in the practice of health care professionals and their agreement with this statement medical advice has little effect on patients’ behavior and found significant results as the P value was < 0.05. Considering the relationship between the qualification of respondents and their engagement in the mental preparation of patients for withdrawal symptoms in their routine gave a P value >0.05 with insignificant association.
CONCLUSION:
Our study shows that HCPs in both private and public sector hospitals have an overall fair attitude and fair practice regarding smoking cessation. This showed that there were several barriers faced by HCPs in terms of SC. This needs to be taken into consideration and various efforts should be put together to increase attitude and practice toward smoking cessation by HCPs in their routine checkups.
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