Via practica 6/2017

Non - smoking promotion within the primary health care in the conditions of Slovak Republic

Non - smoking promotion should be provided by qualified health professionals.The aim of the research was to determine the effectiveness of the implementation of non - smoking support from aspect of general practitioners (GPs).Electronic questionnaire was sent to 609 GPs, 18.7 % (n = 114) of them responded.Data were collected from March 2013 to October 2014.46.1 % of GPs reported to take smoking history routinely.Minimal intervention is provided by 85.1 % of GPs and motivational intervention only by 52.6 % of them.Most of GP´s do not use the Fagerström questionnaire or methods for objectivization of the tobacco use.18, 5 % of GP´s provide non - pharmacological intervention and 51 % of them do not provide pharmacological intervention.Almost 81 % of GP´s do not cooperate with the advisory smoking cessation centers at the Regional Public Health Authorities (ASC RPHA).24.6 % of GP´s use guidelines and almost 58 % of them reported a lack of information in this field.Women - GP´s take smoking history routinely more frequently than men.Regarding GPs, no significant differences in the provision of non - smoking assistance by age was found.It can be supposed, that the trends in the provision of assistance by physicians have not changed over the years.GP´s are not sure of their knowledge or have lack of knowledge in this field.This problem persists even abroad.Foreign GP´s in comparison with ours use scientific guidelines and pharmacological interventions more.It can be assumed, that female GP´s are more consistent and more frequently perform a routine smoking history.

Keywords: promotion of non - smoking, general practitioners, smoking, health promotion, smoking cessation