Conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas sobre tabaquismo en un grupo de médicos en Bogotá (Colombia)

Introduction: The smoking approach requires the understanding of practitioners' factors influencing clinical care of smokers. Objective: Identify behaviors, attitudes, and practices about smoking in a group of doctors in Bogotá, Colombia. Materials and methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study using the World Survey on Smoking in Health Professions Students applied to doctors in training from a higher education institution and doctors graduated from a health service provider institution. Results: It was applied to 200 subjects, with 80% participation. 72.5% were women; 68.1% were graduated doctors and 31.9% were doctors in training. A higher level of knowledge about the approach to smoking was found in physicians in training compared to graduate physicians (96.1% versus 70.6%; p <0.01). Cessation training was greater in physicians in training (82.4% versus 55.0%; p = 0.001). The perception of physicians as role models for their patients was higher in graduate physicians (78.9% versus 62.7%; p = 0.04). Prevalence of tobacco and electronic cigarette use were higher in physicians in training. Conclusions: Inquiring about knowledge, attitudes and practices in physicians broadens the understanding of their role in the control and approach of smoking. It is important to review the curricular content and reinforce continuing education on smoking.