Article posted on Vaping360 - Author: Jim McDonald - Translator: The Vape Club
A new survey of US doctors found that many of them think vaping can help them quit smoking.
More than 70 percent of doctors surveyed said they think vaping can help patients cut down or quit smoking. But only 38 percent of them recommend e-cigarettes to patients who smoke.
More than 500 physicians—in critical care, surgery, and cardiopulmonary medicine—participated in the study, which was conducted by Andrew S. Nickels, MD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN, along with four other researchers from Vanderbilt and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.
The results of the survey were published in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research.
Health care professionals will often recommend vaping
According to a paper released by the University of Oxford, about a third of respondents said their patients asked about e-cigarettes, and 28 percent of doctors said they consulted their patients about e-cigarette use.
Eighty-five percent of physicians said they regularly advise patients to quit smoking, and two-thirds of them regularly support patients in the process. When asked if patients should use e-cigarettes to quit smoking, only 30 percent recommended it, while 21 percent did not. When asked if they would recommend e-cigarettes to reduce smoking, 37 percent said yes.
Surgeons don’t typically recommend vaping to their patients, perhaps because research has shown that nicotine slows wound healing. Another possible explanation is that surgeons don’t see smokers as often. Pulmonologists are more likely to see the effects of smoking on their patients.
Talk to your doctor
Talk to your doctor about vaping
“This study shows that across the United States, physicians are discussing e-cigarettes with their smokers,” said Dr. Nickels. “Despite limited evidence that these products are effective for smoking cessation or safe for long-term use, physicians are increasingly comfortable with these products and some are even recommending them. This information should serve as a signal to policymakers and health care providers that e-cigarettes are being well-regarded and accepted as a device for treating nicotine addiction in clinics across the country.”
It seems Dr. Nickels didn’t get the results he wanted. Doctors see and witness the damage that cigarettes do to their patients more than public health officials and anti-tobacco advocates do. They understand that anything is better than smoking and are willing to switch to safer harm reduction. When they see how much safer vaping is, they are less likely to be swayed by anti-vaping advocates.
What vapers need to do is make their doctors aware of the Royal College of Physicians report that vaping is much safer than smoking, and be the catalyst that will motivate doctors to recommend e-cigarettes to their patients. This is another important step towards greater public acceptance of e-cigarettes, and something vapers can do themselves. Imagine the impact on public health in the US if 98% instead of 38% of doctors recommended their smokers to vape.
