Factors associated with the practice of minimal counseling by medical residents
Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Introduction Smoking is a public health problem. Doctors have an important role in the fight against smoking, in particular through the minimum advice they can give. Purpose The aim of this work was to study the prevalence of the application of minimal advice by medical residents and to identify factors that may influence its practice. Methods We conducted a descriptive and analytical study with a prospective data collection that included 302 residents practicing in Tunisia and who agreed to respond to an online questionnaire submitted between February and March 2020. Results Residents mean age was of 28 ± 2 years and the gender ratio was 0.65. Sixty-four percent of residents were non-smokers. During their practice, 94% of residents systematically identified the patient"s smoking status and 61.9% were unfamiliar with the concept of minimal advice. The rate of application of the minimum advice by residents was 57.6%. In multivariate analysis, the factors influencing the application of minimum counseling were: gender (OR =0.321, p = 0.0001), knowledge of minimum counseling (OR = 2.808, p = 0.002) and having attended the minimum advice given by a senior (OR = 2.328, p = 0.0001). Conclusion The rate of application of the minimum advice remains low. Improving one"s theoretical and practical teaching during medical studies is essential.