Health Care Professionals’ Clinical Skills to Address Vaping and e-Cigarette Use by Patients: Needs and Interest Questionnaire Study

Abstract

Background Widespread vaping and e-cigarette use is a relatively new phenomenon. Youth vaping peaked in 2019, with over 25% of high school students currently vaping. e-Cigarettes are used where smoking is not permitted or as an alternative smoking cessation treatment instead of Food and Drug Administration–approved options. Vaping and e-cigarette use has the potential to harm health, including causing adverse respiratory effects and nicotine addiction. Health care professionals need skills training to help their patients with this relatively new and evolving health problem. Objective The aim of this study is to understand health care professionals’ training needs in this subject area to determine the focus for web-based continuing education training. Methods We reviewed the literature on clinical aspects of vaping and e-cigarette use. Using the results and our experience in substance use continuing education, we created a list of key clinical skills and surveyed health care professionals about their training needs. We also asked about their interest in a list of related topics. We recruited individuals who completed our web-based courses on substance use, members of health care professional–related groups, and experts who had published an article on the subject. Half of the 31 health care professionals who completed the survey were physicians and the remainder were primarily nurses, social workers, and counselors. Participants self-identified as nonexperts (n=25) and experts (n=6) on vaping. Results Participants who were nonexperts on average agreed or strongly agreed that they needed training in each of 8 clinical skills (n=25; range 3.7-4.4 agreement out of 5). The top two skills were recommending treatments for patients (4.4 out of 5, SD 0.49) and evaluating and treating the health effects of vaping and e-cigarette use (4.4 out of 5, SD 0.50). Experts agreed on the importance of training for health care professionals in all skills but rated the need for training higher than nonexperts for each topic. Over half of the participating health care professionals (44%-80%) were interested in nearly all (9/10, 90%) vaping-related topics on a checklist. The topics participants were most interested in were the pros and cons of vaping versus smoking and the health effects of second- and third-hand vaping. Primary care physicians showed more interest in vaping-related topics than nonprimary care physicians (t13=2.17; P=.02). Conclusions This study confirmed gaps in health care professionals’ vaping-related clinical skills identified in the literature by identifying a perceived need for training in related skills and health care professionals’ interest in key topics related to vaping prevention and cessation. This study provides specific guidance on which clinical skills training is most needed and which topics are most interesting to health care professionals.

Providers’ Non-Cigarette Tobacco Use Intervention Practices in Relation to Beliefs about Patients, Prioritization of and Skills for Intervention, and Referral Knowledge in Texas Healthcare Centers Providing Care to Persons with Behavioral Health Needs

“…Additionally, a “train-the-trainer” program can be considered to build and sustain capacity for the treatment of other tobacco use through building a community of practice within the center [ 27 , 28 ]. Importantly, at least one prior study has suggested that training opportunities may be welcomed by providers; a study on vaping and e-cigarettes revealed that providers perceived a need for increased clinical skills training especially on treatment options for other tobacco use [ 29 ]. However, it is important to keep in mind that excessive training requirements in behavioral health treatment settings have been associated with training fatigue [ 24 ].…”

Citizens' Knowledge and Attitudes about Conventional and E-cigarettes: The Role of Health Care Professionals

“…Every health care professional who supports patients that trying to quit smoking, should know the specific vocabulary for this specialized field of health care [15]. Nurses are the largest proportion of health care professionals and their role is to contact effectively and efficiently with patients especially with those in a wide range of socioeconomic status [16].…”

Cannabis vaporisation: Understanding products, devices and risks

“…Vaporisation is becoming an increasingly common method of cannabis administration. However, there is a general lack of understanding on the differences between various vaporisation devices at both a consumer and public health/health care professional level [1]. This has important implications for facilitating the safe use of cannabis.…”

“…However, it is not uncommon that cannabis consumers, medical or recreational, assume an equivalent level of safety between all cannabis vaporisation devices. Many public health and health care providers agree that they do not possess a high level of confidence or competence in addressing vaporisation and e‐cigarette use [1]. The nuances between cannabis and nicotine vaporisation adds another layer of complexity.…”