Sooner or later everybody quits
Tobacco use is still the number one preventable cause of disease and death in British Columbia (Health Canada, 2011) and unfortunately many smokers leave our hospitals without anyone speaking to them about smoking cessation or assisting them with the management of their withdrawal symptoms. That said, in as little as three to five minutes we can offer our patients a lifesaving intervention and increase their chances of successfully quitting smoking by 30% or more (The Cochrane Collaboration, 2008).
It’s simple:
- ASK – “Have you used any form of tobacco in the past six months?” – screen all patients for tobacco use, if we don’t ask we don’t know.
- ADVISE – “Addressing your tobacco use is the best thing you can do to improve your current health condition” – not all patients know that quitting will help improve their health.
- ASSESS – “What are your feelings about stopping at this time?” – will tell you how important quitting is for them right now.
“How confident are you in your ability to stay tobacco-free at this time?” – help them identify triggers and barriers and brainstorm ways to overcome them, look at past successful quit attempts for ideas.
- ASSIST – Offer pharmacotherapy (nicotine replacement therapy or prescription cessation medication) and self-help materials (VCH Quit Kit or QuitNow Services Smart Steps booklet)
- ARRANGE – Refer client to local smoking cessation services (VGH Smoking Cessation Clinic, Break-Free programs), the BC Smoking Cessation Program (call 8-1-1) and/or QuitNow Services (www.quitnow.ca) –the combination of pharmacotherapy and behavioural counselling is the most successful way for someone to stop smoking.
Sooner or late everybody quits, let’s help our patients before it’s too late.
National Non-Smoking Week runs January 18th to 24rd.