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Smoking Cessation advice : Healthcare professional..
Smoking Cessation advice : Healthcare professional Training
Start date: Nov 7, 2016,
End date: Sep 6, 2018
PROJECT
FINISHED
The tobacco epidemic is one of the major public health challenges in Europe being associated with a high risk of mortality and morbidity. People who stop smoking greatly reduce their risk for disease and early death. Although the health benefits are greater for people who stop at earlier ages, there are benefits at any age. Primary care staff at the frontline: nurses, pharmacists, doctors, dentists and many other healthcare professionals, often encounter on a daily basis, many patients who are regular smokers. A recent systematic review enhanced the importance of providing smoking cession advice by dental healthcare professionals in primary care to their patients (Ramsier and Suvan 2015). By conducting a survey of the educational curriculum among 21 European Dental Schools we have identified many gaps in training during undergraduate education (Davies, Ramsier, Warnakulasuriya et al, 2013). Currently, there is a lack of accessible training modules for healthcare professionals who have the potential to deliver smoking cession advice. Though, multiple forms of information are available; however, these are mostly in a written form (in English language only) or following old guidance. By carrying out an e-learning project transnationally, we will embrace the different realities in terms of how smoking cessation advice is provided by health professionals to European citizens in different countries. E-learning allows the use of new educational media, providing healthcare professionals with the ability to search and select information, organising their time efficiently (Bogacki et al 2004).Consequently, we aim: • To provide an e-learning tool, promoting smoking cession advice. This will be accessible to European Union healthcare professionals and translated into several languages • To strengthen the ties among European Union Educational and Professional Health Institutions for promoting smoking cession advice. • Increase professionals’ skills and improve personal portfolio, while taking into account the language /content differences between the countries’ education systems. Overall, the e-learning smoking cessation advice project will be organized into several modules, designed to be used by healthcare professionals such as nurses, pharmacists, dentists and doctors. It will be freely available online and translated in several languages. By promoting the content of the e-learning program we believe a high number of healthcare professionals will complete it. Promotion will be in the forms of posters, Facebook, Twitter, articles and communication meetings.In conclusion, by providing this pioneering EU smoking cessation programme, it will increase the possibility of a gradual reduction in EU population smoking rates. This could potentially have a positive economic and healthcare impact upon the EU countries and decrease the mortality and morbidity rate among EU citizens.