SMOKING CESSATION

(Under construction - more to come)

Smoking is linked to contributing to a number of health care problems including lung cancer, poor wound healing and lung disease. Everybody who smokes should be advised about the availability of the program within University Hospital to assist with counseling about smoking cessation. To make a referral, call 936-95988.

The University of Michigan Clinical Guideline to Smoking Cessation is available to staff for review. It includes patient handouts as well as an overview of the process. (Available to UM staff only)

"The gold standard for cessation treatment is the 5 As (ask, advise, assess, assist, and arrange). Yet, only a minority of physicians know about these, and fewer put them to use. Acceptable shortcuts are asking, advising, and referring to a telephone "quit line" or an internal referral system. Successful treatment combines counseling with pharmacotherapy (nicotine replacement therapy with or without psychotropic medication such as bupropion). Nicotine replacement therapy comes in long-acting (patch) or short-acting (gum, lozenge, nasal spray, or inhaler) forms. Ways to counter clinicians’ pessimism about cessation include the knowledge that most smokers require multiple quit attempts before they succeed, that rigorous studies show long-term quit rates of 14% to 20%, with 1 report as high as 35%, that cessation rates for users of telephone quit lines and integrated health care systems are comparable with those of individual clinicians, and that no other clinical intervention can offer such a large potential benefit.^{" (Schroeder, 2005)}

Helpful links to information and telephone quit lines.

References

Schroeder, S.A. What to do with a patient who smokes. JAMA 294:4, July 27, 2005.

If corrections or modifications are needed in this process, please notify: mlbowden@umich.edu.