[Treating tobacco addiction. Praxis and barriers amongst Icelandic general practitioners.].
OBJECTIVE
To assess praxis and identify the most common barriers for engaging in tobacco prevention in general practice in the Nordic countries.


METHODS
All 167 practicing general practitioners in Iceland received a questionnaire at home assessing praxis and barriers for systematic involvement in tobacco prevention.


RESULTS
The over all response rate was 77%. Few general practitioners asked patients if they smoked if the patient had no smoking related symptoms. Few supported patients who wanted to stop smoking. However, a big majority agreed that tobacco prevention was a part of their job. The main reasons for not engaging in tobacco prevention was lack of time and the feeling that the time spent may not be worth the effort since few patients quit. A big majority stated that they would prefer to reefer smokers to smoking cessation specialist.


CONCLUSIONS
Smoking cessation expertise needs to be more accessible to Icelandic patients and doctors.
Helgason
A R
AR
Social Medicine - CTP, Box 17533, 118 91 Stockholm, Sweden. asgeir@ce.ks.se.
Heimisson
P
P
Lund
K E
KE