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Smoking-cessation counseling by nurses: Description and predictors in rural hospitals

June 27, 2011 Comments off

Smoking-cessation counseling by nurses: Description and predictors in rural hospitals
Source: American Nursing Today

Tobacco use is the most preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. Annually, it results in 440,000 deaths at a cost of $157 billion and an estimated 5.6 million years of life lost. Tobacco use not only increases the risk of lung and other cancers and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases for smokers. It raises these risks for nonsmokers as well through exposure to secondhand smoke. Because of nurses’ important role in smoking-cessation counseling, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published specific guidelines for nurses in 2005.

Much is known about effective strategies to promote successful smoking cessation. Smoking-cessation counseling is a core measure of quality for acute-care hospitals for various diagnoses, including heart failure, myocardial infarction, and pneumonia. Healthcare providers can increase the chance that patients will quit smoking.

Use of evidence-based strategies is an expectation of good nursing care. To promote successful cessation attempts for patients who smoke, clinicians should follow the 5 A’s:
Ask about tobacco use at every visit.
Advise tobacco users to quit.
Assess readiness to quit.
Assist tobacco users with a quit plan.
Arrange follow up visits.

The purpose of this study was to describe the smoking-cessation counseling practices of nurses in acute-care rural hospitals and examine whether nurses’ personal characteristics affected smoking-cessation counseling activities.

Categories: American Nursing Today, health and health care, health care providers, tobacco and smoking
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