Smoking recognition by family physicians.

Family physicians have an essential, unique, and vital role to play in preventive health care. However, the actual practice of and emphasis upon preventive medicine varies widely. Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of illness and high medical costs in the United States today. This study examined the recognition of smoking patients by family physicians. The results show that physicians fail to recognize large numbers of their patients who smoke and that physician behavior is disease oriented rather than preventive. A modest educational program was very successful in improving physician awareness and recognition of smoking patients. This study suggests that family physicians can and need to become better prevention specialists and they must document the smoking habits of all their patients before attempting to counsel or intervene with smoking cessation programs.