Two Georgia Medical Schools Develop Online Curriculum to Teach Med Students Methods of Counseling Patients to Quit Smoking
Developing and evaluating educational materials for medical students on smoking cessation counseling
Researchers at Morehouse School of Medicine, in collaboration with colleagues at Mercer University School of Medicine, developed and evaluated a computer-based, self-directed curriculum to teach medical students in the early clinical years of training how to counsel patients effectively to quit smoking.
Key Results
- The Smoking Cessation Clinical Intervention tutorial is available online to the public without charge. It includes a narrative section of 26 modules that addresses steps for counseling patients about smoking cessation and a practicum section of eight videotaped physician-patient counseling scenarios.
Key Findings
- Students at both Morehouse and Mercer significantly improved their knowledge of tobacco-control issues as a result of using the smoking-cessation tutorial.
- In an assessment, students at both schools stated that their ability to perform patient counseling activities related to smoking cessation had significantly improved after using the smoking-cessation tutorial.
Funding
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) supported the project with two unsolicited grants totaling $294,754 to Morehouse School of Medicine between January 1999 and February 2005.