Knowledge, attitudes and practices of Irish doctors regarding stop smoking care and electronic cigarettes

Smoking continues to cause harm on a huge scale in Ireland. Doctors can help this harm through providing safe, effective and clinically sound stop smoking care, but the needs of Irish doctors in this area are largely uncharted. We assessed the knowledge, attitudes and practices of Irish doctors regarding stop smoking care and electronic cigarettes. An Internet-based cross-sectional survey was administered to members of the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland and the Irish College of General Practitioners. Descriptive statistics for key parameters were derived and factors associated with more consistent practice of brief intervention, a key component of stop smoking care, were analysed using chi-square testing. There were 250 responses (58.7