Nurses' attitude and practice in providing tobacco cessation care to patients.

INTRODUCTION Patients respond very positively with nurses when they talk to them about their health related problems. METHODS This cross sectional study was carried out among nurses working in Gulf Medical College hospital and Research centre, Ajman, UAE to assess the their attitude in providing tobacco cessation counselling or advise to their patients and potential barriers they face in providing tobacco cessation care. 108 nurses participated in the study. RESULTS Among the nurses 87% were females, the majority were aged between 25 and 34 years, and 46.3% had a work experience of less than 5 years. Among the nurses who participated in the survey, 99.1% felt that the hospital stay was a suitable time for nurses to create awareness on tobacco and health to the patients and had a positive attitude towards creating awareness on tobacco and health to the patients. Only 0.9% had a negative attitude towards creating awareness on tobacco and health and they felt that patients might not listen to them. All nurses, irrespective of their socio-demographic characteristics had a positive attitude to motivating patients to quit tobacco use. Currently, 70.4% regularly advise their patients to avoid tobacco products. Potential barriers pointed out by nurses were: lack of time (6.3%) patients may not appreciate it (90.6%) and not part of their job (3.1%). CONCLUSION The study concludes that nurses have a positive attitude in providing tobacco cessation care to their patients and they can utilize their unique knowledge and know-how to promote tobacco cessation and prevent the spread of this public health crisis. Providing advice and support for tobacco cessation by nurses would increase the chance of patients stopping tobacco use. This will create an enabling environment and greater potential for public health persons to fight the epidemic with greater vigour