Tobacco-related instruction in undergraduate nursing education in Illinois

Tobacco use is responsible for more deaths in the United States than any ot her factor. Nurses are in a unique position to convey life-saving messages to clients regarding tobacco use. To gauge the type and extent of tobacco-r elated background knowledge acquired by nurses in the course of their educa tion, the Nurses' Committee of the Illinois Division of the American Cancer Society (ACS) surveyed 70 nursing programs in the state of Illinois. The n umber of lecture hours spent on tobacco-related issues was greater in LPN p rograms than in either associate or baccalaureate degree programs, and inst ruction was scattered throughout the curriculum of each program. Most schoo ls reported heavy reliance on adult medical-surgical textbooks to convey to bacco-related content. The most recent editions of the textbooks used by th e schools were reviewed, and they also were found to adopt a scattered appr oach, with a disappointing lack of depth regarding the hazards of tobacco. It is recommended a single course be identified as responsible for relaying tobacco-related content and information supplied by general medical-surgic al textbooks be supplemented by materials drawn from other sources.