Correspondence: Karen S. Hudmon, DrPH, MS, RPh

1. 0 20 40 60 80 100 Rx for Change: Pharmacist-Assisted Tobacco Cessation Program An Update on its Dissemination to the U.S. Schools of Pharmacy Robin L. Corelli,1 Karen S. Hudmon,1,2 Christine M. Fenlon,2 Lisa A. Kroon,1 Kenneth Lem1 1University of California San Francisco School of Pharmacy and 2Yale University School of Medicine BACKGROUND RESULTS, cont’d Figure 1—Baseline survey: Perceived importance of tobacco topics as part of required coursework for pharmacy students (n=82). • Studies consistently find that students in the health professions receive inadequate training for assisting patients with tobacco cessation. In response to this need, the California schools of pharmacy collaborated to develop Rx for Change: Clinician-Assisted Tobacco Cessation, a comprehensive tobacco curriculum for health professional students. • Rx for Change was created as a turn-key program with a vision for dissemination both within and outside of the pharmacy profession. Rx for Change Program Materials • Rx for Change is composed of a series of modules (Table 1). Pre- and post-training surveys, collected from nearly 600 students in California, revealed a positive impact of the program on self-rated ability (p<0.001) and self-efficacy (p<0.001) for cessation counseling. Nearly all students (99.2%) believed that students at other schools would benefit from receiving the same or a similar training. • Figure 2 depicts program participants’ post-training perceptions regarding the adoptability of the Rx for Change program at their school of pharmacy during the 2003-2004 academic year. • Implementation during academic year 2003-2004: • 55/75 (73.3%) of schools participating in a train-the-trainer program had implemented the Rx for Change curriculum (Figure 3). • An estimated 6,100 students across the country were exposed to the Rx for Change program. % who perceive this topic to be adequately covered 56.3 44.4 38.0 25.0 52.6 36.7 Figure 3— Rx for Change: Program implementation August 2003 – June 2004 6.3 11.4     32.9      Table 1. Components of the Rx for Change program    22.5        1.3         8.9           Percent            RESULTS   • Baseline survey (n=82; 98.8% response) revealed a median of 170 minutes of tobacco education throughout the PharmD program. Figure 1 depicts the perceived importance of various tobacco-related topics and faculty perceptions of the adequacy of instruction in their current curricula. • During the summer of 2003, a total of 132 faculty members representing 75 schools (84.3% of all U.S. schools of pharmacy) attended an Rx for Change train-the-trainer program and completed a post-training survey.     CONCLUSIONS METHODS • Pharmacy faculty believe that tobacco content is an important component of a pharmacist’s training; however, they perceive it to be inadequately addressed in their current curricula. • The Rx for Change curriculum has generated much interest and participation. Benefits of a shared, national program include: (a) all teaching and learning materials are maintained at a central location and are updated continually to reflect new information, (b) resource sharing eliminates the need for each school to develop its own materials, and (c) the materials benefit from the collective feedback of knowledge and wisdom from all faculty who adopt the program. • Prior to dissemination, we conducted a baseline survey to assess the tobacco-related curricular content at each of the 83 U.S. schools of pharmacy. • With funding from the National Cancer Institute, two faculty members from each U.S. school of pharmacy were invited to attend a 2-day train-the-trainer program, during which they receive the knowledge, skills, and materials to implement the Rx for Change program. • Faculty participants completed a post-training survey assessing key factors hypothesized to be associated with program adoption. • Follow-up contact and surveys determine extent of program adoption. Figure 2—Train-the-trainer program: participant perceptions (n=132). Compatibility for integration Comprehensiveness of content Appropriateness of teaching methods Correspondence: Karen S. Hudmon, DrPH, MS, RPh Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine 60 College Street, 4th Floor, New Haven, CT 06473 E-mail: karen.hudmon@yale.edu; telephone: 203.785.7367 Sponsored by the National Cancer Institute grant R25 CA 90720. Special thanks to our participating faculty at schools of pharmacy across the U.S. Confidence in skills for teaching RxFC Likelihood of adoption in 2003-2004 Percent