University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications
Title
Teaching Medical Students to Help Patients Quit Smoking: Outcomes of a 10-School Randomized Controlled Trial
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Medicine, Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine; UMass Worcester Prevention Research Center
Publication Date
2016-02-01
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms | Community Health and Preventive Medicine | Medical Education | Preventive Medicine | Substance Abuse and Addiction
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Early in medical education, physicians must develop competencies needed for tobacco dependence treatment.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of a multi-modal tobacco dependence treatment curriculum on medical students' counseling skills.
DESIGN: A group-randomized controlled trial (2010-2014) included ten U.S. medical schools that were randomized to receive either multi-modal tobacco treatment education (MME) or traditional tobacco treatment education (TE).
SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Students from the classes of 2012 and 2014 at ten medical schools participated. Students from the class of 2012 (N = 1345) completed objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs), and 50 % (N = 660) were randomly selected for pre-intervention evaluation. A total of 72.9 % of eligible students (N = 1096) from the class of 2014 completed an OSCE and 69.7 % (N = 1047) completed pre and post surveys.
INTERVENTIONS: The MME included a Web-based course, a role-play classroom demonstration, and a clerkship booster session. Clerkship preceptors in MME schools participated in an academic detailing module and were encouraged to be role models for third-year students.
MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome was student tobacco treatment skills using the 5As measured by an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) scored on a 33-item behavior checklist. Secondary outcomes were student self-reported skills for performing 5As and pharmacotherapy counseling.
RESULTS: Although the difference was not statistically significant, MME students completed more tobacco counseling behaviors on the OSCE checklist (mean 8.7 [SE 0.6] vs. mean 8.0 [SE 0.6], p = 0.52) than TE students. Several of the individual Assist and Arrange items were significantly more likely to have been completed by MME students, including suggesting behavioral strategies (11.8 % vs. 4.5 %, p < 0.001) and providing information regarding quitline (21.0 % vs. 3.8 %, p < 0.001). MME students reported higher self-efficacy for Assist, Arrange, and Pharmacotherapy counseling items (ps < /=0.05).
LIMITATIONS: Inclusion of only ten schools limits generalizability.
CONCLUSIONS: Subsequent interventions should incorporate lessons learned from this first randomized controlled trial of a multi-modal longitudinal tobacco treatment curriculum in multiple U.S. medical schools.
NIH Trial Registry Number: NCT01905618.
Keywords
counseling, medical school curriculum, medical student behaviors, objective structured clinical examination, randomized controlled trial, tobacco dependence treatment
DOI of Published Version
10.1007/s11606-015-3508-y
Source
J Gen Intern Med. 2016 Feb;31(2):172-81. doi: 10.1007/s11606-015-3508-y. Link to article on publisher's site
Related Resources
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Journal of general internal medicine
PubMed ID
26391030
Repository Citation
Ockene JK, Hayes RB, Churchill LC, Crawford S, Jolicoeur D, Murray DM, Shobend A, David SP, Ferguson KJ, Huggett KN, Adams M, Okuliar C, Gross RL, Bass PF, Greenberg RB, Leone F, Okuyemi K, Rudy DW, Waugh JB, Geller AC. (2016). Teaching Medical Students to Help Patients Quit Smoking: Outcomes of a 10-School Randomized Controlled Trial. University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-015-3508-y. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/faculty_pubs/927