How to increase the delivery of effective smoking cessation treatments in primary care settings: guidance for doctors, nurses, other health professionals and healthcare organisations

Brinson D
Record ID 32010001705
English
Authors' recommendations: Smoking cessation remains an important focus, as stopping smoking is probably the best way an individual can improve his or her health. Many programmes that have aimed to increase the frequency with which health professionals provide smoking cessation interventions in primary care settings have been shown to be effective in terms of the ABC outcomes. On the whole, when using interventions such as training, reminders, audit and feedback, and multi-component interventions, absolute improvements in practice of between 5% and 10% appear to be realistically achievable and relevant. It is important to keep in mind that even small changes in health care professionals’ behaviours are likely to be potentially important when many hundreds of patients are affected.In order to provide what could be considered ‘a minimum standard of care’, the research suggests that a comprehensive package needs to be delivered. At minimum, a comprehensive package would include providing all health care professionals with adequate training and resources, implementing a system to record the smoking status of all patients in every clinic, and providing health care professionals with prompts, feedback, and the incentive to ensure that patients consistently receive appropriate and effective treatments. Team approaches, in which the different ABC tasks are shared amongst different health professionals and organisations, look to be promising.
Details
Project Status: Completed
Year Published: 2009
English language abstract: An English language summary is available
Publication Type: Not Assigned
Country: New Zealand
MeSH Terms
  • Humans
  • Primary Health Care
  • Smoking Cessation
Contact
Organisation Name: Health Services Assessment Collaboration
Contact Address: University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand
Contact Name: hsac@canterbury.ac.nz
Contact Email: hsac@canterbury.ac.nz
Copyright: Health Services Assessment Collaboration (HSAC)
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