Assessment of smokeless tobacco use in the history and physical examination by primary healthcare providers.

Purpose: Following a simple descriptive research design, we examined how and to what extent primary healthcare providers in rural southern regions of the United States ask patients about the use of smokeless tobacco as indicated in the document used for the patient history.

Data Sources: Copies of blank history and physical forms used in offices of primary care providers in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee were examined to identify items related specifically to tobacco use.

Conclusions: Twenty-nine providers returned history and physical forms, which revealed 24% showed no item related to tobacco use.