Abstract
BackgroundU.S. Hispanic physicians constitute a considerable professional collective, and they may be most suited to attend to the health education needs of the growing U.S. Hispanic population. These educational needs include tobacco use prevention and smoking cessation. However, there is a lack of information on Hispanic physicians' tobacco intervention practices, their level of awareness and use of cessation protocols, and the type of programs that would best address their tobacco training needs. The purpose of this study was to assess the tobacco intervention practices and training needs of Hispanic physicians.MethodsData was collected through a validated survey instrument among a cross-sectional sample of self-reported Hispanic physicians. Data analyses included frequencies, descriptive statistics, and factorial analyses of variance.ResultsThe response rate was 55.5%. The majority of respondents (73.3%) were middle-age males. Less than half of respondents routinely performed the most basic intervention: asking patients about smoking status (44.4%) and advising smoking patients to quit (42.2%). Twenty-five percent assisted smoking patients by talking to them about the health risks of smoking, providing education materials or referring them to cessation programs. Only 4.4% routinely arranged follow-up visits or phone calls for smoking patients. The majority of respondents (64.4%) indicated that they prescribe cessation treatments to less than 20% of smoking patients. A few (4.4%) routinely used behavioral change techniques or programs. A minority (15.6%) indicated that they routinely ask their patients about exposure to tobacco smoke, and 6.7% assisted patients exposed to secondhand smoke in understanding the health risks associated with environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). The most frequently encountered barriers preventing respondents from intervening with patients who smoke included: time, lack of training, lack of receptivity by patients, and lack of reimbursement by third party payers. There was no significant main effect of type of physician, nor was there an interaction effect (gender by type of physician), on tobacco-related practices.ConclusionThe results indicate that Hispanic physicians, similarly to U.S. physicians in general, do not meet the level of intervention recommended by health care agencies. The results presented will assist in the development of tobacco training initiatives for Hispanic physicians.
Highlights
U.S Hispanic physicians constitute a considerable professional collective, and they may be most suited to attend to the health education needs of the growing U.S Hispanic population
The American Medical Association's membership includes more than 28,400 Hispanic physicians, [1] and the National Hispanic Medical Association represents more than 36,000 licensed Hispanic physicians
The purpose of this study was to conduct an assessment of the tobacco intervention practices and training needs of Hispanic physicians through a validated survey instrument
Summary
U.S Hispanic physicians constitute a considerable professional collective, and they may be most suited to attend to the health education needs of the growing U.S Hispanic population. These educational needs include tobacco use prevention and smoking cessation. The literature does not clearly discuss their awareness of available resources for assisting smoking patients, nor how tobacco-use assessment, counseling, and follow-up are incorporated into their actual practice This is of particular importance considering that Hispanic physicians may confront situations that are particular to their patient populations, and to their own cultural and educational backgrounds. Given that smoking continues to be a priority health behavior problem among Hispanics, and that physicians can potentially play an important role in delivering education messages, [4], assessing the tobacco-related training needs of Hispanic physicians should be considered a priority
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