Prevention and Treatment of Tobacco Use

This introductory course about the Prevention and Treatment of Tobacco Use provides a foundation regarding the effects of tobacco on human health, offers effective approaches to preventing and treating tobacco use, and gives opportunities to practice intervention techniques for smoking cessation.  All parts of this training are free, including registration, learning, testing, and a certificate of completion. This course is intended for medical and other clinical and public health trainees and practitioners.

The Prevention and Treatment of Tobacco Use course is co-sponsored by University of the Incarnate Word. Like all NextGenU.org courses, this course is competency-based, using the competencies in Tobacco Control Competencies for US Medical Students and the Core Competencies for evidence-based treatment of tobacco use and dependence. In addition, the course uses resources from world-class organizations such as the Government of Canada, the U.S. National Library of MedicineU.S. Centers for Disease Control and PreventionNU.S. National Institutes of Health, and the World Health Organization. The course developers are Florian Stigler MD; Kentya Ford DrPH; Salma Marani MS; Alexander V. Prokhorov MD, PhD; Valeria Reynolds MD; Hugo Rojas MD, MSc; Madison Cox MSN, RN; Juan Bravo MD; and Pablo Baldiviezo MD.

University Of The Incarnate World

For publications on NextGenU.org’s courses’ efficacy, see “A Novel Integration of Online and Flipped Classroom Instructional Models in Public Health Higher Education,” (2014), BMC Medical Education“Building Public Health Capacity through Online Global Learning,” (2018), Open Praxis, or here on NextGenU.org’s publication page.

There are 9 modules to complete, providing: 

  1. A basic understanding of the fundamentals of tobacco
  2. Insight into the epidemiology and the economic cost of tobacco use
  3. An overview of the health consequences of tobacco use
  4. Fundamental knowledge about the pathophysiology of nicotine addiction.
  5. Treatment approaches for cessation and prevention of tobacco use in adults, pediatric and special populations.
  6. An overview of the effectiveness and principles of tobacco treatment, including counselling, pharmacological treatment, and alternative therapies
  7. An awareness of public health strategies and effective control policies for tobacco prevention
  8. The skills necessary to critically appraise research evidence and the resources needed to access current information on new standards, practices and learning objectives relating to tobacco use and cessation   

 

The completion time for this course is estimated at 108 hours: 41 hours of didactics and curated resources and 67 hours of work studying the resources and participating in activities to assist the student in synthesizing the materials.

To obtain credit, the course requires completion of all case studies and peer activities. Module seven is a practicum where you will engage in seven peer activities that will require your interaction with practice patients to complete them. At the end of each lesson, there is a practice quiz. At the end of the course, after you’ve completed each lesson, quiz, and activity, you’ll have access to a final exam, and a chance to evaluate this course. Once you’ve passed that last test, you will be able to download a certificate of completion from NextGenU.org and our course’s co-sponsoring organizations (listed above). We keep all of your personal information confidential, never sell any of your information, and only use anonymized data for research purposes, and we are also happy to report your testing information and share your work with anyone (your school, employer, etc.) at your request.

Engaging with this Course:

You may browse this course for free to learn for your personal enrichment; there are no requirements. To register in this course for credit, it is required that learners have obtained a bachelor’s degree, or be enrolled in a health sciences training program at the bachelor’s level or higher.

To obtain a certificate a learner must successfully complete

  • all the reading requirements,
  • all quizzes and pass with a 70% with unlimited attempts,
  • all case studies,
  • all peer activities,
  • the final exam with a minimum of 70% and a maximum of 3 attempts, and
  • the self and course evaluation forms.

To obtain credit

  • complete all requirements listed above for the certificate, and
  • your learning institution or workplace should approve the partner-university-sponsored NextGenU.org course for educational credit, as they would for their learner taking a course anywhere.  

 

NextGenU.org is happy to provide your institution with

  • a link to and description of the course training, so they can see all its components, including the cosponsoring universities and other professional organization cosponsors; 
  • your grade on the final exam;
  • your work products (e.g. case study activities), and any other required or optional shared materials that you produce and authorize to share with them;  
  • your evaluations — course, and self-assessments;
  • a copy of your certificate of completion, with the co-sponsoring universities and other organizations listed.

 

To obtain a degree, NextGenU.org co-sponsors degree programs with institutional partners. To obtain a full degree co-sponsored with NextGenU.org, registrants must be enrolled in a degree program as a student of a NextGenU.org institutional partner. If you think that your institution might be interested in offering a degree with NextGenU.org contact us.

We hope that you will find this a rewarding learning experience, and we count on your assessment and feedback to help us improve this training for future students.

Here are the next steps to take the course for credit.

  • Complete the registration form.

  • Take the pre-test.

  • Begin the course with Module 1: Introduction to Prevention and Treatment of Tobacco Use. In each lesson, read the description, complete all required readings and any required activity, and take the corresponding quizzes.