Missed opportunities for prevention: smoking cessation counseling and the competing demands of practice.
BACKGROUND
Smoking cessation advice is an effective intervention for the control of tobacco use. The objective of this study was to assess and describe the rates of smoking status assessment and smoking cessation advice provided by physicians during ambulatory office visits with respect to physician specialty, type of visit, and number of problems addressed at the visit.


METHODS
We used a cross-sectional survey of patient visits to the offices of nonfederally employed, office-based physicians participating in the 1992 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (n = 1558).


RESULTS
Physicians reported knowing the smoking status of their patients in 66% of outpatient visits. The rate of assessment was similar for generalists and specialists. Cardiologists and generalists, except for pediatricians, showed discernible rates of smoking cessation advice (medians ranging from 14% to 50%), whereas obstetrician/gynecologists and other specialists had negligible rates. For tobacco-related visits, generalists and specialists had comparable rates of cessation advice to identified smokers. For non-tobacco-related visits, generalists had higher rates than specialists (22% vs 10%; P < .001).


CONCLUSIONS
Although a substantial majority of smokers are reportedly identified by physicians during ambulatory visits, a large number of identified smokers are not receiving smoking cessation counseling. Patients seen by generalists are more likely to receive smoking cessation advice. Physicians appear to prioritize smoking cessation advice based on diagnosis at the time of the visit.
Jaén
C R
CR
Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo 14208, USA.
Stange
K C
KC
Tumiel
L M
LM
Nutting
P
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D003376:Counseling / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005194:Family Practice / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008511:Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011996:Records; D012907:Smoking; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013038:Specialization; D014481:United States