Do respiratory therapists receive training and education in smoking cessation? A national study of post-secondary training programs

Objective: To assess the tobacco-related education provided by post-secondary respiratory therapy training programs in the United States. Methods: A cross-sectional research design was used to survey the entire population of program directors of post-secondary, respiratory therapy training programs in the United States. A valid and reliable questionnaire was developed and mailed using a 2-wave mailing technique (73% return rate). Internal reliability coefficients (Cronbach alpha) for the various components of the questionnaire ranged from 0.78 to 0.91. Results: More than half of programs (56%) offered no teaching on the 5R's. Nearly half (47%) offered no teaching on the 5A's. Of the 13 tobacco-related topics listed in the basic science and clinical science sections of the questionnaire, only one topic (i.e., diseases linked to tobacco use) received 3 h or more of instruction by approximately a third of programs (35.8%). The majority of programs (>90%) spent no time teaching students about the socio-political aspects of tobacco use cessation. Moreover, 41% of programs did not formally evaluate students' competence in providing smoking cessation counseling to patients. Conclusions: Tobacco-related education is a very minor component of the education and training received by respiratory therapy students in the United States. Practice Implications: Respiratory therapy training programs in the United States have great potential to strengthen the tobacco-related education that they provide to students. Practicing respiratory therapists would likely benefit from continuing medical education focused on how to use evidence-based smoking cessation counseling techniques with patients. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.