title: Knowledge gaps about smoking cessation in hospitalized patients and their doctors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hospitalization is an opportune time for smoking cessation support; cessation interventions delivered by hospital physicians are effective. While general practitioners' and outpatients' knowledge and attitudes towards smoking cessation have been studied in great detail, in-patient cessation programmes have received less attention.
  
  
  METHODS
  Questionnaire-based survey of a convenience sample of hospital physicians and in-patients at Göttingen University Hospital, Germany.
  
  
  METHODS
  All 159 physicians directly involved in bedside care on medical and surgical wards received a three-page questionnaire examining smoking status, knowledge of smoking-attributable morbidity and mortality, and their understanding of the effectiveness of methods to achieve long-term smoking cessation. Perceived barriers to the delivery of counselling and cessation services to smoking patients were identified. One thousand randomly selected patients on medical (N = 400) and surgical (N = 600) wards were invited to complete a similar questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-seven physicians (response rate 48.4%) and 675 patients (67.5%) completed the questionnaire. Patients and physicians alike underestimated the smoking-attributable risk of developing smoking-related cancers and chronic obstructive lung disease. In addition, severe misperceptions regarding the effectiveness of cessation methods were noted in both populations with 'willpower' being thought to be most effective in achieving abstinence. Only one-third of smoking patients recalled having been counselled to quit. Physicians identified lack of time as a central barrier to counselling smoking patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that hospitalized smokers in a large German university hospital might not be treated according to international guidelines.
authors: Department of Cardiology and Pneumology, University Hospital Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany. raupach@med.uni-goettingen.de
authors: Tobias
authors: T
authors: Raupach
authors: Jacqueline
authors: J
authors: Merker
authors: Gerd
authors: G
authors: Hasenfuss
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Andreas
authors: Andrew
authors: A
authors: Pipe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003376:Counseling; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D020445:Hospitalists; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010465:Perception; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000523:psychology; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D016526:Workload; D055815:Young Adult