BACKGROUND: This paper describes a pioneering effort to introduce tobacco cessation into India's undergraduate medical college curriculum. This is the first ever attempt to fully integrate tobacco control across all years of medical college in any low and middle income country. The development, pretesting, and piloting of an innovative modular tobacco curriculum are discussed as well as challenges that face implementation and steps taken to address them and to advocate for adoption by the Medical Council of India. METHODS: In-depth interviews were conducted with administrators and faculty in five medical colleges to determine interest in and willingness to fully integrate smoking cessation into the college curriculum. Current curriculum was reviewed for present exposure to information about tobacco and cessation skill training. A modular tobacco curriculum was developed, pretested, modified, piloted, and evaluated by faculty and students. Qualitative research was conducted to identify challenges to future curriculum implementation. RESULTS: Fifteen modules were successfully developed focusing on the public health importance of tobacco control, the relationship between tobacco and specific organ systems, diseases related to smoking and chewing tobacco, and the impact of tobacco on medication effectiveness. Culturally sensitive illness specific cessation training videos were developed. Faculty and students positively evaluated the curriculum as increasing their competency to support cessation during illness as a teachable moment. Students conducted illness centered cessation interviews with patients as a mandated part of their coursework. Systemic challenges to implementing the curriculum were identified and addressed. CONCLUSIONS: A fully integrated tobacco curriculum for medical colleges was piloted in 5 colleges and is now freely available online. The curriculum has been adopted by the state of Kerala as a first step to gaining Medical Council of India review and possible recognition.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/610292 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Yamini, T. R., Nichter, M., Nichter, M., Sairu, P., Aswathy, S., Leelamoni, K., Unnikrishnan, B., P, P. M., Thapar, R., Basha, S. R., Jayasree, A. K., Mayamol, T. R., Muramoto, M., Mini, G. K., Thankappan, K. R. |
| Contributors | Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Science and Technology, School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Arizona, Department of Community Medicine, T.D. Medical College, Department of Community Medicine, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, Department of Community Medicine Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, Department of Community Medicine, Academy of Medical Sciences |
| Publisher | BioMed Central Ltd |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article |
| Rights | © 2015 Yamini et al.; licensee BioMed Central. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) |
| Relation | http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/15/90 |
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