J. Pollichemi2,3, M. Masika2,3, O. Lucas2,3, B. Bigham1,2, K. Attwood2,3, M. Reid2,3, M. Mahoney2,3, C. Nwogu2,3 1Howard University College Of Medicine,Washington, DC, USA 2Roswell Park Cancer Institute,Buffalo, NY, USA 3State University Of New York At Buffalo,Buffalo, NY, USA
Introduction:
Smoking cessation, regardless of a patient’s prognosis, is important for improving health, quality of life, and reducing comorbidities. Therefore, it is important that clinicians provide smoking cessation services. This study assesses the effectiveness of a 1-hour educational interventional program on clinicians providing smoking cessation services in the thoracic clinic at a comprehensive cancer center.
Methods:
New patients that were current smokers with cancer were identified by a retrospective chart review. In order to establish current clinician behavior, no action was taken to alter practices six weeks prior to the educational intervention. Patients seen in the thoracic clinic during this time were assigned to the ‘before cohort’. Patients seen six weeks after the intervention were assigned to the ‘after cohort’. The cohorts were compared by assessing the number of clinicians that provided the following smoking cessation services: advising patients to quit, counseling patients, and offering pharmacotherapy.
Results:
A total of 257 charts were reviewed: 141 belonged to the ‘before cohort’ and 116 belonged to the ‘after cohort’. Of the ‘before cohort’, 27 were current smokers, 69 were former smokers, 28 never smoked and 17 were undocumented. Of the ‘after cohort’, 23 were current smokers, 61 were former smokers, 27 never smoked and 5 were undocumented. The demographics, comorbidities, and smoking habits did not differ significantly between the two cohorts. There was a trend towards an increase in clinicians providing smoking cessation services after the educational session but it did not reach statistical significance (Figure 1).
Conclusion:
These results indicate that barriers exist for providing smoking cessation services. Perhaps a larger sample size is needed to identify a smaller effect that this educational program had on clinician practices. It is also possible that ongoing education programs are necessary to have an appreciable effect on clinician behavior.
[Figure 1: Smoking cessation services in the pre-intervention versus post-intervention cohorts]
