Improving smoking cessation training for undergraduates in UK medical schools

Brief advice from medical professionals on smoking cessation is effective and can lead to dramatic improvements in population health. However, UK medical undergraduate teaching of smoking cessation advice varies greatly by medical school, and in practice many opportunities to deliver brief cessation advice in clinical practice are missed.

This DPhil project aims to investigate current provision of training on delivering smoking cessation advice, with the aim to then inform a future intervention.

It will include a survey of how, if at all, the delivery of smoking cessation advice and treatment is taught in UK medical schools, as well as qualitative work with medical school staff and pre-clinical and clinical students regarding delivery and implementation of smoking cessation guidance, and ways to motivate students to use the skills learned in practice. This information will then be used to develop, test and evaluate a new short module on smoking cessation aimed at undergraduate medical students.