OBJECTIVES: The General University Hospital in Prague (GUH) is one of the largest hospitals in the Czech Republic. The prevalence of smoking among hospital staff is monitored as part of its Health Promoting Hospitals (HPH) network membership. METHODS: This study employed a cross-sectional design, utilizing anonymous questionnaires distributed to all hospital employees in the years 2012 and 2023 through the hospital's electronic system (response rates 25% and 28%, respectively). Data were analysed using chi-square tests to compare smoking prevalence across time and among subgroups based on profession, sex and age group. RESULTS: The total prevalence of smoking decreased from 38.4% in 2012 to 14.5% in 2023. Among all doctors, the rates fell from 15.86% to 6.75% (p < 0.001). For male doctors, the figures changed from 17.05% to 9.27% (p = 0.012), while for female doctors, the rates decreased from 15.22% to 5.24% (p = 0.001). Among nurses, the smoking prevalence declined from 44.59% to 17.64% (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The statistically significant reduction in smoking rates (p < 0.05) among both doctors and nurses is encouraging; however, there remains room for improvement. An increase in the use of other tobacco products was observed, particularly among nurses.

• Keywords
• healthcare professionals, nurses, physicians, smoking, tobacco and nicotine addiction,
• MeSH
• Adult MeSH
• Smoking * epidemiology   MeSH
• Physicians statistics & numerical data   MeSH
• Medical Staff, Hospital * statistics & numerical data   MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Personnel, Hospital * statistics & numerical data   MeSH
• Prevalence MeSH
• Cross-Sectional Studies MeSH
• Surveys and Questionnaires MeSH
• Tobacco Use * epidemiology   MeSH
• Check Tag
• Adult MeSH
• Middle Aged MeSH
• Humans MeSH
• Young Adult MeSH
• Male MeSH
• Female MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Geographicals
• Czech Republic epidemiology   MeSH

INTRODUCTION: Properly educated nurses delivering evidence-based tobacco dependence treatment could contribute to improving health and reducing regional disparities in tobacco-related disease and death in Central and Eastern Europe. The aims of this study are to describe development of the Eastern European Nurses' Centre of Excellence for Tobacco Control (COE) and evaluate its online educational program on tobacco dependence treatment using the 5As framework. METHODS: The online education evaluation followed a prospective, single group, pre- and post-assessment of changes in nurses' self-reported tobacco cessation interventions. Leaders from five Eastern European countries (Hungary, Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia) developed protocols for in-country tobacco control education. Nurses responded to a baseline survey, accessed an online nursing educational program, and completed a follow-up survey at 3 months, in the period December 2015 to June 2016. A total of 695 nurses from five countries answered questions on cessation interventions at baseline and of these 507 (73%) completed a follow-up survey at 3 months. RESULTS: At the follow-up at 3 months, the 507 nurses self-reported a significant increase in providing all 5A components, i.e. nurses were significantly (p<0.0001) more likely to always /usually advise a patient to quit, assess interest in quitting (p=0.002), assist with a quit plan, review barriers to quitting and recommend a smoke-free home post-discharge (all p<0.0001). They were also significantly more likely (p=0.01) to agree or strongly agree that nurses have an obligation to advise patients on the risks of smoking. There was a significant increase (p<0.0001) in nurses' estimate of the number of patients they provided a cessation intervention the previous week. Nurses who smoked were 60% more likely to assist and arrange compared to nurses who never smoked. CONCLUSIONS: Coordinating multi-country activities through a COE was successful in engaging a network of nurses to use an online educational program and participate in other tobacco control activities.

• Keywords
• Central and Eastern European nurses, e-learning, health knowledge, nursing education, practice, tobacco cessation interventions,
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH