Hygiena 2013, 58(3):106-110 | DOI: 10.21101/hygiena.a0972

Global Health Professions Student Survey (GHPSS): Results in Students at Medical Faculty, Masaryk University, Brno

Veronika Šikolová^1,2,3, Hana Sovinová², Drahoslava Hrubá¹

¹ Lékařská fakulta MU, Ústav preventivního lékařství, Brno

² Státní zdravotní ústav, Praha

³ Fakultní nemocnice u sv. Anny v Brně, Mezinárodní centrum klinického výzkumu, Brno

Backround: From the end of the 1980s worldwide descriptive studies concerned about medical students have been organized. Their results gave data about knowledge, attitudes and smoking behaviour among future physicians and other health professionals as a basis for their future target education about smoking.

Methods: From September 2011 to June 2012 220 medical students attending the 6th year filled the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Global Health Professions Student Survey (GHPSS) questionnaire at the end of their State examinations.

Results: Almost one quarter of students never tried to smoke cigarettes, 5.5% of students reported themselves as smokers, 2.8% of students smoked regularly during the last month. Single attempts with smoking other tobacco products described 45% and the same frequency of attempts with water pipe reported 80% of students. They are often exposed to passive smoking in public places, almost 40% of students described non-compliance with the ban of smoking within the faculty premises and clinics. Students in the last year of studies are significantly better informed about the specific role of physicians and health professionals in the motivations of smokers to quit and fully accept it. During their pre-gradual studies more than one third of students have obtained practical skills with advice and support patients with smoking cessation.

Conclusions: The trend of pre-gradual medical study developed at Medical Faculty, Masaryk University, Brno in the 1990s continues successfully: the majority of graduated students accept non-smoking as an obvious part of life style and understand the specific role of health professionals in the reduction of the smoking epidemic. There are some reserves in the complete approach: noncompliance of the smoking ban on Medical faculty premises and the necessity of wider practical skills in counselling.

Keywords: smoking in medical students, Global Health Professions Student Survey (GHPSS)

Received: March 2013; Accepted: May 28, 2013; Published: September 1, 2013  Show citation