The prevalence of smoking among undergraduate nursing and physiotherapy students in Spain decreased from 29.3% in 2003 to 18.2% in 2013. Many of the students remained unaware of the link between smoking and diseases such as bladder cancer or the negative health effects of second-hand smoke, which points to a significant deficiency in undergraduate training.

The majority of nursing and physiotherapy students recognized that healthcare professionals were role models in society, noted Dr. Beatriz Ordás, lead author of the Journal of Advanced Nursing study.

Citation: Changes in use, knowledge, beliefs and attitudes relating to tobacco among nursing and physiotherapy students: a 10-year analysis, Beatriz Ordás, Daniel Fernández, Cesar Ordóñez, Pilar Marqués-Sánchez, Maria Jose Álvarez, Santiago Martínez andArrate Pinto, Article first published online: 15 JUN 2015, DOI: 10.1111/jan.12703