Table 3.

Variations of clinical medical students' Perceptions and perceived preparedness toward providing tobacco cessation counseling (TCC).

Item	Year 1 *	Year 2 *	Year 3 *	Year 4 *	Year 5 *	MD of respiratory department *	MD of non-respiratory department *	p -value
Perceptions (n = 1,263)
I am willing to provide TCC to patients as a clinical medical student.	4.18	3.94	4.14	4.24	4.23	4.54	4.26	<0.001
I believe TCC by clinical medical students could assist patients to quit smoking.	3.65	3.50	3.56	3.59	3.70	3.98	3.90	<0.001
I will advise patients to quit tobacco use in my future career.	4.31	4.24	4.40	4.46	4.49	4.56	4.47	0.001
TCC for patients should include traditional tobacco product (e.g., cigarette) and alternative tobacco product (e.g., e-cigarette, water-pipe smoking).	3.84	3.85	3.77	3.79	3.91	3.86	3.92	0.350
Compared with traditional tobacco product, alternative tobacco product has the same degree of health hazards.	3.32	3.31	3.29	3.36	3.56	3.55	3.67	<0.001
Perceived preparedness (n = 1,263)
I am knowledgeable enough to explain negative impacts of using cigarette to patients.	2.87	3.18	3.46	3.40	3.42	3.72	3.53	<0.001
I am knowledgeable enough to explain negative impacts of using ATPs (alternative tobacco products) to patients.	2.63	2.95	2.98	2.85	2.99	3.4	3.28	<0.001
I am prepared to help patients who need TCC of traditional cigarette.	3.12	3.26	3.37	3.29	3.39	3.56	3.58	<0.001
I am prepared to help patients who need TCC of ATPs.	2.93	3.07	3.08	2.91	3.16	3.49	3.36	<0.001
I know what the tobacco cessation protocol is.	3.19	3.13	3.37	3.24	3.41	3.62	3.42	<0.001
Sum	34.04	34.43	35.42	35.13	36.26	38.28	37.39

p-value analyze the differences between different grades in each item by Kruskal-Wallis Test.

^*Indicates that data is represented by the average score of different grades.