Tobacco Study Guide

Cigarette smoking is the most preventable cause of death in the United States. Smoking is a risk factor for more disease processes than any other and is responsible for more deaths than any other cause. Knowledge of the causes and/or effects of smoking is important to every specialty in medicine.

Smoking affects practically every part of the human body. The study of cigarette smoking is an excellent model for understanding epidemiologic principles. Therefore, every medical student should be thoroughly knowledgeable in prevalence, causes, short and long term effects, treatment, surveillance, and prevention of cigarette smoking and its' consequences, before graduating from medical school. Because no one medical specialty or any single field of medical study contains all the pertinent information about cigarette smoking, smoking should be in the curriculum of every course taught in medical school as part of a well-designed, comprehensive, longitudinal, four year curriculum. The focus of this curriculum is to provide students with critical thinking skills; in fact, it addresses the essence of medical school, in that it provides facts, helps interpret content, and provides an opportunity to apply these new found skills and knowledge in a clinical setting.

Goals

• Understand the scope of the problem and the effects cigarette smoking has on the human body at every level and every system.
• Realize these effects are preventable and value the role of surveillance and primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention of cigarette smoking and/or its consequences.
• Demonstrate proper surveillance and primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention strategies regarding cigarette smoking.
• Utilize proper surveillance and primary, secondary, and tertiary strategies with every patient contact as well as role model non-use of tobacco products.
• Use the study guide in every course.
• Use tobacco as a case example on which to integrate core concepts of every single course.

Click here for the Tobacco Study Guide