The implementation of a tobacco dependence education curriculum in a Swiss Dental Hygiene School - an 8-year review.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of our investigation was to review the implementation of a comprehensive tobacco dependence education (TDE) curriculum at the Medi School of Dental Hygiene (MSDH), Bern, Switzerland, 2001-2008.


METHODS
In 2001, new forms to record patients' tobacco use history and willingness to quit were created for all the MSDH patients. In 2002, a new theoretically based tobacco dependence treatment protocol was implemented into the MSDH curriculum. Students received instruction on how to provide brief tobacco use dependence interventions as well as maintain detailed records of patient tobacco use and cessation interventions for every smoker at all dental hygiene visits.


RESULTS
In 2002, 17 lecture hours were added to the following subjects: pathology, periodontology, preventive dentistry, pharmacology and psychology. During the same time period, 2213 patients (56.9% women) have visited the MSDH. Smoking status was recorded in 85.7% of all the patients (30.2% smokers). Brief tobacco use interventions were recorded in 36.8% of all smokers while 7.6% of these have reported to quit smoking.


CONCLUSIONS
Overall, the new TDE curriculum was successfully implemented and accepted by the MSDH faculty. Applications in the clinical practice, however, may still be improved to better identify smokers and increase initial and follow-up interventions potentially leading to higher quit rates.
Department of Periodontology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. christoph.ramseier@zmk.unibe.ch
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D003479:Curriculum; D003756:Dental Hygienists / Q000193:education*; D003792:Dental Records; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010336:Pathology / Q000193:education; D010517:Periodontics / Q000193:education; D010600:Pharmacology / Q000193:education; D011313:Preventive Dentistry / Q000193:education; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011584:Psychology / Q000193:education; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012576:Schools, Health Occupations; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D013557:Switzerland; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods; D020340:Tobacco Use Cessation; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055815:Young Adult