title: [Free from tobacco. Counseling of smokers in medical practice--experiences from the Swiss campaign].
abstract: Physicians can help patients quit smoking by offering advice and counselling. Towards this end, the Swiss Medical Association (FMH) together with the Federal Office of Public Health developed a programme aimed at improving physicians' counselling skills. The programme offers a systematic approach to patient counselling. Between 1990 and 1993, on three consecutive occasions Swiss doctors (12,000) were mailed an invitation to join the campaign and order their free copies of the counselling package. An optional 3 hours training session on how to make effect use of the package was also offered. Course participants were routinely questioned (pre and post course, and six months after completing the course), about their knowledge, attitude and behaviour towards smoking and counselling. In 1991 an evaluation of the overall programme was conducted. A representative sample of 450 physicians was used for the survey. It was divided into 3 groups with 150 physicians each. Group I included those, who both had ordered the package and attended the training, group II had the package only, while group III had neither. The overall response rate was 80%: For groups I and II it was 93% and for the control group it was 76%. 92% of respondents reported having heard of the campaign. 51% stated having used one or more of the materials included in the package in their daily work. 63% reported an increased frequency of intervention activity and 55% stated that their counselling had been more successful. Relevant statements amongst the control-group were significantly lower -26% with regard to success and 38% with respect to increased frequency of interventions (p < 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Bundesamt für Gesundheitswesen, Abteilung Gesundheitsförderung, Bern.
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Burkhalter
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002423:Cause of Death; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D006801:Humans; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D013557:Switzerland; D016896:Treatment Outcome
vernacular_title: Frei von Tabak. Raucherberatung in der Arztpraxis--Erfahrungen aus der Schweizer Kampagne.