Medical Student INtervention to Promote Effective Nicotine Dependence and Tobacco HEalthcare

Background: Smoking counselling during hospitalisation with post-discharge follow-up increases quitting. However, provision of cessation care for hospitalised patients is suboptimal. Students are potentially an untapped resource for providing cessation advice, but no studies have investigated this. Aim: To determine if medical students can encourage motivation to stop smoking (MTSS; primary outcome) in hospitalised smokers . Design: 2-arm RCT Setting: RCSI (www.rcsi.ie) and Connolly Hospital (www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/3/hospitals/Connolly/). Participants: Inpatient smokers. Intervention and procedures: 60 graduate medical students will receive standardised motivational interviewing training in the provision of cessation advice. Each student will be randomly assigned to counsel \~1-3 smokers each, including an individual in-hospital, face-to-face session and post-discharge phone counselling. Training and implementation will cover Sept-2015-May-2016. Smokers will be randomised to 'usual care' (n\~90), or intervention (n\~90, student-delivered motivational interviewing). A researcher will enable recruitment and follow-up, and conduct a qualitative evaluation of programme participants.