VGH smoking cessation findings to be presented at national conference

The Smoking Cessation Clinic at VGH started with pilot funding from Pfizer roughly 3 years ago to service the patients of the VGH & UBC Cardiovascular Clinic. The philosophy of the clinic was to customize treatment strategies for each patient in order to realize the best possible outcomes.

With over 3 years of  cessation data, the clinic has been chosen to present its paradigm and findings at the 8th National Conference on Tobacco or Health in Ottawa.  The findings include: importance of proving tobacco treatment interventions/services at point-of-care to reduce access barriers that many smokers face in their efforts to stop smoking – while providing important long term cost savings for healthcare As tobacco dependence is increasingly understood as a chronic, relapsing medical condition, it is important to consider a longitudinal approach to tobacco treatment consistent with a ‘chronic disease care model. This would necessitate a shift in current tobacco treatment models which have the expectation of total abstinence with no relapses. Adopting such a longitudinal tobacco treatment model will require careful program planning, buy-in from hospital administration, and health economics considerations on a QALY basis.

Dr. Sean Virani from cardiology and Dr Milan Khara, an expert in the field of smoking cessation recognized that although smoking was an important, modifiable cardiovascular risk factor, smoking cessation was not receiving the attention it deserved within existing cardiac care pathways. Within 6 months, the clinic started accepting respirology patients, followed by urology and pre-surgery and is now available to all outpatients at VGH.  The clinic operates 2 days a week with a physician and a nurse.

The clinic accepts outpatients registration at 604.875.4800 including self-referrals. It  is located on the 6th floor of the Diamond Healthcare building at VGH.