title: Do specialist registrars fail smokers?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Medical and surgical SpRs were interviewed to determine what efforts they make to stop patients smoking.
  
  
  METHODS
  Telephone interview of 53 SpRs in the Oxford region.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority regularly asked whether patients smoked, few did anything about it. Surgical SpRs were less likely than medical SpRs to advise patients to stop, discuss smoking-related health problems, discuss the benefits of quitting or advise nicotine replacement therapy. Few SpRs had been trained to counsel smokers and less than half felt that their input helped patients to stop.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Medical education is lacking in teaching students and junior doctors how to help patients stop smoking.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, UK.
authors.forename: Roslyn
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pursell
authors.forename: Robert B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Galland
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000592:standards; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D000074606:Smoking Prevention