New UK doctors cannot handle smoking cessation

A new study across 24 medical schools in the United Kingdom has shown that most newly qualified UK doctors are ill equipped to deliver smoking cessation and rehabilitation interventions.

The study, published in Tobacco Control (2004;13:74-7), found that training in smoking cessation was seriously neglected as three fifths of preregistration house officers reported that they were unable to deliver smoking cessation interventions in accordance with national guidelines. Just 17% of preregistration house officers …