Smoking Cessation and Attitudes, Belief, Observation, and Education of Medical Students, in Turkey

Introduction: Tobacco use is an important public health problem around the world. Aim of this study is to assess attitudes,belief and observation of the students on smoking cessation and medical education. Methods: This study is part of a multi-country study called “Global Health Profession Student Survey”. The study population consisted of third year medical students in Turkey. The sample consisted of a total of 1834 medical students from randomly selected 12 medical schools. Results: Of the students, 1209 (92.1%)thought that health professionals should get specific training on cessation techniques, and that health professionals should serve as "role models" for their patients and the public. The percentage of the students who answered “Health professionals should routinely advise their patients who smoke to quit smoking” was 1211 (93.3%). Of the students, 1204 (60.8%) responded that health professionals who use other tobacco products were less likely to advise patients to stop smoking. The percentage of the students who had received a formal training on smoking cessation approaches was 48.2% (1196). Of the students, 91.5% (1203) had heard of nicotine replacement therapies in tobacco cessation programs. More than half of smokers tried to quit smoking last year, and majority of them did not take professional help or advice. Conclusions: Majority of students are aware of health professionals’ role on smoking cessation. Most of the students are willingness to take specific formal training on tobacco. Student’s behaviours and attitudes were different by gender and smoking status. Improvement of tobacco cessation issues in medical curricula will be beneficial.  Keywords: Attitudes; Beliefs; Medical education; Medical students; Smoking cessation. | PubMe

Smoking Cessation and Attitudes, Belief, Observation, and Education of Medical Students, in Turkey

Introduction: Tobacco use is an important public health problem around the world. Aim of this study is to assess attitudes, belief and observation of the students on smoking cessation and medical education. Methods: This study is part of a multi-country study called ``Global Health Profession Student Survey{''}. The study population consisted of third year medical students in Turkey. The sample consisted of a total of 1834 medical students from randomly selected 12 medical schools. Results: Of the students, 1209 (92.1\%) thought that health professionals should get specific training on cessation techniques, and that health professionals should serve as ``role models{''} for their patients and the public. The percentage of the students who answered ``Health professionals should routinely advise their patients who smoke to quit smoking{''} was 1211 (93.3\%). Of the students, 1204 (60.8\%) responded that health professionals who use other tobacco products were less likely to advise patients to stop smoking. The percentage of the students who had received a formal training on smoking cessation approaches was 48.2\% (1196). Of the students, 91.5\% (1203) had heard of nicotine replacement therapies in tobacco cessation programs. More than half of smokers tried to quit smoking last year, and majority of them did not take professional help or advice. Conclusions: Majority of students are aware of health professionals' role on smoking cessation. Most of the students are willingness to take specific formal training on tobacco. Student's behaviours and attitudes were different by gender and smoking status. Improvement of tobacco cessation issues in medical curricula will be beneficial

Push and Pull Factors of Why Medical Students Want to Leave Türkiye: A Countrywide Multicenter Study

Phenomenon: Physician immigration from other countries is increasing as developed countries continue to be desirable destinations for physicians; however, the determinants of Turkish physicians’ migration decisions are still unclear. Despite its wide coverage in the media and among physicians in Türkiye, and being the subject of much debate, there is insufficient data to justify this attention. With this study, we aimed to investigate the tendency of senior medical students in Türkiye to pursue their professional careers abroad and its related factors. Approach: This cross-sectional study involved 9881 senior medical students from 39 different medical schools in Türkiye in 2022. Besides participants’ migration decision, we evaluated the push and pull factors related to working, social environment and lifestyle in Türkiye and abroad, medical school education inadequacy, and personal insufficiencies, as well as the socioeconomic variables that may affect the decision to migrate abroad. The analyses were carried out with a participation rate of at least 50%. Findings: Of the medical students, 70.7% had emigration intentions. Approximately 60% of those want to stay abroad permanently, and 61.5% of them took initiatives such as learning a foreign language abroad (54.5%) and taking relevant exams (18.9%). Those who wanted to work in the field of Research & Development were 1.37 (95% CI: 1.22–1.54) times more likely to emigrate. The push factor that was related to emigration intention was the “working conditions in the country” (OR: 1.89, 95% CI: 1.56–2.28) whereas the “social environment/lifestyle abroad” was the mere pull factor for the tendency of emigration (OR: 1.73, 95% CI: 1.45–2.06). In addition, the quality problem in medical schools also had a significant impact on students’ decisions (OR: 2.20, 95% CI: 1.83–2.65). Insights: Although the percentage of those who want to emigrate “definitely” was at the same level as in the other developing countries, the tendency to migrate “permanently” was higher in Türkiye. Improving working conditions in the country and increasing the quality of medical faculties seem vital in preventing the migration of physicians