Tobacco & Nicotine
Pediatric Resident Training in Tobacco Control and the Electronic Health Record
Given the dangers posed by tobacco use and tobacco smoke exposure, pediatricians should address tobacco use and exposure with patients and parents at every opportunity, but this is not consistently done in practice. One reason may be that many medical residents do not receive education on how to address tobacco use and tobacco smoke exposure with patients and their parents. In a 2012 survey of U.S. pediatric program directors, 65% of programs reported covering tobacco control in their curricula, but most training programs focused on tobacco's health effects and not intervention strategies for clinical practice.Perspectives in Implementing a Pragmatic Pediatric Primary Care–Based Intervention Trial
The 2013 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) concluded that behavioral interventions are effective in reducing initiation of smoking in youth, recommending primary care clinicians provide education or brief counseling to prevent initiation, and that there are promising trends toward behavioral interventions improving cessation in this population. Our primary care–based intervention RCT conducted between 2000 and 2004, Air It Out, informed these USPSTF recommendations. Our trial was designed to determine whether a pediatric primary care practice–based smoking prevention and cessation intervention would be effective in increasing abstinence rates among adolescents under usual clinic conditions, to inform clinical practice.Waterpipe Use and Susceptibility to Cigarette Smoking Among Never-Smoking Youth
Susceptibility to cigarette smoking, defined as the lack of a firm decision against smoking, is a strong predictor of regular smoking and addiction. Several modifiable risk factors have been identified among never cigarette smokers, and one potential factor of interest is waterpipe use. The purpose of this study is to determine the association of waterpipe use with susceptibility to cigarette smoking among never-smoking youth.
