Abstract
IntroductionPhysician-delivered tobacco treatment using the 5As is clinically recommended, yet its use has been limited. Lack of adequate training and confidence to provide tobacco treatment is cited as leading reasons for limited 5A use. Tobacco dependence treatment training while in medical school is recommended, but is minimally provided. The MSQuit trial (Medical Students helping patients Quit tobacco) aims to determine if a multi-modal and theoretically-guided tobacco educational intervention will improve tobacco dependence treatment skills (i.e. 5As) among medical students. Methods/design10 U.S. medical schools were pair-matched and randomized in a group-randomized controlled trial to evaluate whether a multi-modal educational (MME) intervention compared to traditional education (TE) will improve observed tobacco treatment skills. MME is primarily composed of TE approaches (i.e. didactics) plus a 1st year web-based course and preceptor-facilitated training during a 3rd year clerkship rotation. The primary outcome measure is an objective score on an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) tobacco-counseling smoking case among 3rd year medical students from schools who implemented the MME or TE. DiscussionMSQuit is the first randomized to evaluate whether a tobacco treatment educational intervention implemented during medical school will improve medical students' tobacco treatment skills. We hypothesize that the MME intervention will better prepare students in tobacco dependence treatment as measured by the OSCE. If a comprehensive tobacco treatment educational learning approach is effective, while also feasible and acceptable to implement, then medical schools may substantially influence skill development and use of the 5As among future physicians.
Highlights
Physician-delivered tobacco treatment using the 5As is clinically recommended, yet its use has been limited
Among 5 multi-modal educational (MME) and 5 traditional education (TE) schools, we will compare school Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) scores for 3rd year students from the Class of 2012 who did not participate in the intervention with the 3rd year OSCE scores from the Class of 2014 who will have participated in the intervention
They were told that the study will include a survey for their class to complete during their MS1 and MS3 medical school years and passive consent was given by completing the surveys
Summary
Tobacco smoking continues to be the leading preventable cause of death in the United States making it responsible for more than 400,000 deaths annually [1]. In response to the relatively low rate of training and use of the 5As, a subcommittee of the Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health recommended that all clinicians should have the knowledge, skills, and support systems to help patients stop smoking and that competency in tobacco dependence treatment becomes “a core graduation requirement for all new physicians and other healthcare professionals” [20,21]. This “core graduation requirement” would translate into an effective and standardized competency-based teaching method implemented repeatedly and throughout medical school. The goal of the current study, was to develop and implement a comprehensive medical school curriculum for teaching the effective delivery of tobacco treatment counseling and to evaluate its impact on acquired student tobacco treatment and counseling skills within the context of a group randomized controlled trial
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
