Introduction. Combustible tobacco smoking accounts for nearly
30% of all cancer deaths in the United States of America and about
7 million deaths worldwide each year. Nowadays, e-cigarettes are
increasingly used, especially among young people, but nicotine addiction
that develops by such smoking easily converts to smoking
combustible tobacco. Therefore, public health efforts must be directed
to the prevention of initiation of smoking all nicotine-containing
products. Role of Physicians. Medical doctors are very influential
in smoking-related changes in local society, especially those who
work in primary care, and they have an important role in both prevention
and cessation of tobacco smoking. Tobacco smoking should be
eliminated among medical doctors, yet many of them still smoke.
The lowest percentage of smoking among physicians is in Oceania
and North America (less than 11%) and the highest in Eurasia (25%).
Smoking prevalence among medical students is higher than 35% in
Georgia, Greece, Spain, and Italy, but less than 5% in the United
States of America and Australia. In Serbia, 23% of physicians smoke.
The age of physicians does not affect the number of smokers, but
gender has a significant effect; women smoke less than men. Smoking
Prevention and Cessation. Education about the effects of combustible
tobacco smoking is a critical issue for successful smoking
prevention and cessation; the best way is to provide educational programs
on smoking at medical schools by introducing a mandatory
course on combustible tobacco smoking at the beginning of the first
year of study, especially in societies with a large percentage of smokers.
Conclusion. In this paper, we showed how smoking can be
eliminated among physicians and how they can affect the patients,
public health policies, and antismoking campaigns.
