Educational texts raise physicians’ confidence in treating tobacco use disorder

Key takeaways:

• Physicians are busy and do not have much time for ongoing medical education.
• Trainees and attending physicians reacted positively to a 13-day text series on tobacco use disorder treatment.

SAN DIEGO — After receiving educational texts on tobacco use disorder treatment for 13 days, physicians felt more confident treating this disorder, according to research presented at the American Thoracic Society International Conference.

This research was highlighted during the 2024 ATS-Association of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Program Directors-Pediatric Pulmonary Training Directors Association for Clinical Educators Forum.

“Beyond addressing specific knowledge gaps like tobacco use disorder, the educational tool can be used to disseminate updates on clinical guidelines efficiently,” Zehra Dhanani, MD, pulmonary and critical care fellow at Temple University Hospital, told Healio.

“Additionally, it offers daily educational pearls and summarizes research articles, enabling clinicians to stay informed and enhance patient care in a time-effective manner,” Dhanani continued. “This versatility underscores its value in supporting continuous learning and decision-making in clinical practice.”

In an effort to fill knowledge gaps pertaining to tobacco use disorder treatment, Dhanani and colleagues designed a 13-day text series and assessed physicians’ confidence in treatment following receipt of the series among 22 internal medicine residents and pulmonary/critical care fellows and attendings.

Participants received “succinct messages” with information on tobacco use disorder treatment, as well as reference links, according to researchers.

Before and after receiving the text series, each participant filled out a questionnaire on tobacco use disorder treatment so researchers could measure how their confidence changed on a scale ranging from 1 to 100. A higher score meant higher confidence.

If participants no longer wanted to receive messages in this series, they could unsubscribe.

By the end of the text series, researchers reported 100% completion with no requests to unsubscribe.

The average confidence level of the total cohort was 59.3 before the text series, whereas at the end of the series (n = 16), this number went up to 84.

Researchers noted that two physicians did not report their confidence level at the end of the text series because they were in the middle of the series. The remaining four failed to answer the follow-up message.

Additionally, 67% of the time, participants clicked on the reference links in the texts.

In feedback from participants, researchers observed high praise for the text series. Some participants noted that they felt more comfortable treating tobacco use disorder since the series. Those who provided feedback also liked the simplicity and briefness of the texts.

“We successfully demonstrated that text-based education is a cost-effective and efficient way of disseminating knowledge to physicians,” Dhanani told Healio. “It allows them the flexibility to learn at their own time, at their own pace and in small, bite-sized formats, thus avoiding information overload.”

Engagement and long-term outcomes of the text-based series could be explored in future research, according to Dhanani.

“Future studies will likely continue exploring the potential of electronic and social media platforms for education,” Dhanani said. “Our study has initiated this avenue, showing their effectiveness in reaching a large-scale audience. Further research may focus on optimizing content delivery, assessing engagement and evaluating long-term impacts.”

When asked whether the text series is scalable to other providers, Dhanani said yes and noted that the format is highly adaptable.

“Its adaptable nature allows for customization to meet the educational needs of various learners, making it versatile for different healthcare professionals,” she said.