Impact of tobacco education on pharmacy students' perceptions of electronic nicotine delivery systems

Objective

Describe how receiving tobacco education within the PharmD curriculum affects 1) students' perceptions and knowledge of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and 2) willingness to counsel on cessation.

Methods

Eight institutions used a 29-item questionnaire to assess P1-P4 students' tobacco use, ENDS knowledge, cessation education, and perceptions in the fall of 2020. Students were divided into those who had received tobacco cessation education and those who had not.

Results

832 pharmacy students participated in the study with a 28% response rate. 56% of respondents were reported as receiving at least some tobacco education in the pharmacy curriculum. Quitting other forms of tobacco was the only perceived benefit of ENDS that was statistically different between groups. Tobacco education was associated with a greater likelihood of identifying localized harms of ENDS, including explosion/burns and mouth/throat irritation. Those with tobacco education were more likely to agree they received enough education to counsel on smoking cessation and were more likely to agree they are willing to counsel patients on quitting. Tobacco education was associated with an increased willingness to offer smoking cessation (OR 1.56; 95% CI 1.14–2.13) but not more willing to offer ENDS cessation (0.85; 0.58–1.24). Personal history of combustible cigarette use was associated with increased willingness to counsel on both smoking (2.45; 1.27–4.73) and ENDS (2.79; 1.38–5.64) cessation.

Conclusion

Tobacco education in the pharmacy curriculum was associated with an increased likelihood of recognizing localized harms of ENDS and willingness to offer smoking cessation counseling but did not increase willingness to offer ENDS cessation counseling.