Decline of Tobacco Smoking Among Medical Specialists at A Spanish University Hospital

Allam, Mohamed Farouk; Cabildo, Alberto Molina; Molina, Carmen Díaz

doi:10.21608/ejhm.2018.9843

Decline of Tobacco Smoking Among Medical Specialists at A Spanish University Hospital

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Community, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

² Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain

10.21608/ejhm.2018.9843

Abstract

Background: Several epidemiological studies have shown that the prevalence of tobacco smoking in the Spanish healthcare centres is relatively high. Objective: to assess the current situation of tobacco smoking among medical specialists of Reina Sofia University Hospital (Cordoba, Spain). As a secondary objective we intended to calculate the indirect costs of smoking among medical specialists during the working hours. Materials and Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study of the medical specialists of Reina Sofia University Hospital. Our survey was conducted using an interview questionnaire that included the following variables: age, sex, medical specialty, smoking habits, tobacco smoking during work hours, time spent on each cigarette, intention to quit smoking and the possibility to participate in a smoking cessation program. Results: A total of 143 medical specialists; 64 women and 79 men were interviewed. About 14% of participants were former smokers and 10.5% were current smokers, of whom 67% wanted to quit smoking. About 73% of smokers consumed tobacco during the working hours. Most of smokers consumed 2 cigarettes during the working hours. About 60% of smokers would use a permanent aid program to quit smoking. The hours lost by the smoking habits of medical specialists cause an annual loss of 143.512,96 euros. Conclusions: The study results show that currently there is an increasing awareness of health professionals about the harmful effects of smoking: former smokers have increased, and most of smokers want to quit. Also, they would use a permanent aid program to quit smoking.

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