Health care providers can serve as a critical link between smokers and the resources and motivation they need to quit. But many opportunities to encourage smokers to kick the habit are missed, reports a new survey, because more than one in 10 smokers do not tell their doctors that they smoke.
These results come from a nationally representative survey of over 3,000 current and former smokers, conducted by the organization Legacy, which aims to help smokers quit and advocates against smoking. Two-thirds of the respondents who reported that they did not tell their health care provider that they smoked said that they didn t want to be lectured about their bad habit. And in an environment that is becoming increasingly hostile to smoking with widespread bans in public spaces and work environments many smokers said that they felt smoking carried a significant social stigma. In fact, 42 percent of those who avoided telling the doctor that they smoked said that they omitted this fact because they felt ashamed.
As ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross explains, Bans on smoking in certain locations are created quite intentionally to make smokers feel marginalized. De-normalizing smoking is one of the successful effects of the anti-smoking campaign this discourages young people from starting to smoke, and encourages adults to quit. But unfortunately, he continues, an unintended consequence of this is that smokers are ashamed to talk about smoking with their doctors, which prevents them from receiving the care they need.
Dr. Ross notes that, even if patients do not bring up smoking with their health care providers, it is the doctor s job to ask and many doctors do not do this. There are many cues that can suggest to a doctor that a patient smokes, such as the odor of smoke or frequent bouts of bronchitis, he says. Doctors need to put the patient at ease and talk with them about smoking in a supportive and non-judgmental way.
