A new public health guideline, released on Wednesday, delivered a clear message to the nation’s clinicians: there has never been a better time for their patients to quit smoking.  

            “Tobacco dependency should be treated as a chronic disease,” says State Health Commissioner, Judy Monroe, M.D. “Nicotine addiction often requires repeated intervention and multiple attempts to quit, which is why support from health care providers is vital.” 

            According to Dr. Monroe, the new public health guideline is an important tool for every clinician to know about and put into practice.  

“Effective treatments exist that can significantly increase rates of long-term abstinence from tobacco,” says Dr. Monroe, “and that’s encouraging.” 

 

            The new guideline – released by the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) – describes how clinicians and health care systems can significantly reduce smoking by delivering evidence-based treatments to their patients who smoke.  

            “As never before, there are more scientifically proven tools available to help clinicians help their patients quit smoking, including safe and effective medications, counseling and free, telephone quitlines,” explains Karla Sneegas, executive director, Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation (ITPC). 

            Sneegas says, as a result, numerous effective treatments and programs exist and progress is accelerating in

Indiana. She says health care providers are ideally situated to increase the rate of smoking cessation in

Indiana.   

“

Indiana data show that even brief interventions by our doctors, dentists, nurses and assistants can increase the number of Hoosiers who try to quit,” explains Sneegas.            The new guideline also provides a ‘blueprint’ for clinicians and health care systems, describing how smokers can access effective treatments, how clinicians can provide such treatments quickly and effectively, and how health care systems can support both smokers and clinicians in smoking cessation efforts.            In response to the guideline,

Indiana is taking action. In June, Dr. Monroe will convene a group of health care provider organizations to discuss the new guideline and develop recommended strategies

Indiana should employ. This will be incorporated into the 2015 Indiana Tobacco Control Strategic Plan.  

            Health care providers can contact ITPC to request a Health Care Provider Tobacco Cessation Kit to assist them in advising their patients who are ready to quit. 

            The number of Hoosiers seeking assistance to quit smoking has ramped up in the past year.  In April, 1,358 Hoosiers contacted the free Indiana Tobacco Quitline (1-800-QUIT-NOW) for assistance from trained quit coaches.  Telephone quitlines are one of the evidence-based recommendations in the new guideline. The

Indiana quitline is available and free to any adult Hoosier who is ready to quit.   

            ITPC’s network of locally affiliated coalitions also have cessation resources available that reach all of the Indiana’s counties to provide help to smokers’ who are ready to quit.  Log on to www.itpc.in.gov to get a full listing of those local resources.            According to Sneegas, half of

Indiana’s 1.1 million smokers alive today will die prematurely from a disease directly caused by their tobacco use if they are unable to quit. “This is a public health tragedy that doesn’t have to happen,” she says.  

 

Guidelines Provide Further Direction For Quitting 

            The PHS guidelines included 10 key recommendations: 

• Tobacco dependence is a chronic disease that often requires repeated intervention and multiple attempts to quit.  Effective treatments exist, however, that can significantly increase rates of long-term abstinence.

·         It is essential that clinicians and health care delivery systems consistently identify and document tobacco use status and treat every tobacco user seen in a health care setting.·         Tobacco dependence treatment is effective across a broad range of populations.  Clinicians should encourage every patient willing to make a quit attempt to use the counseling treatments and medications recommended in the Guideline.·         Clinicians should offer every patient who uses tobacco at least the brief treatments shown to be effective in the new Guideline.·         Individual, group and telephone counseling are effective, and their effectiveness increases with treatment intensity.   Two components of counseling are especially effective, and clinicians should use these when counseling patients making a quit attempt:  1) Practical counseling (problem solving/skills training) and 2) Social support delivered as part of the treatment.·         Numerous effective medications are available for tobacco dependence and clinicians should encourage their use by all patients attempting to quit smoking except when medically contraindicated or with specific populations which there is insufficient evidence of effectiveness.  There are seven first-line medications available that reliably increase long-term smoking abstinence rates.·         Counseling and medication are effective when used by themselves for treating tobacco dependence.  The combination of counseling and medication, however, is more effective than either alone.  Thus, clinicians should encourage all individuals making a quit attempt to use both counseling and medication.·         Telephone quitting counseling (1-800-Quit-Now) is effective with diverse populations has broad reach.  Therefore, both clinicians and health care delivery systems should ensure patient access to quitlines and promote quitline use.·         If a tobacco user currently is unwilling to make a quit attempt, clinicians should use the motivations treatments who in the Guideline to be effective in increasing future quit attempts.·         Tobacco dependence treatments are both clinically effective and highly cost-effective relative to interventions for other clinical disorders.  Providing coverage for these treatments increases quit rates.  Insurers and purchasers should ensure that all insurance plans including the counseling and medication identified as effective as covered benefits.For health care providers who would like a Tobacco Cessation Kit to assist them in providing resources to their patients who are ready to quit can call (317) 234-1787 or send an e-mail to: itpcquitpacket@itpc.in.gov.* * *For more information regarding the free Indiana Tobacco Quitline, call toll-free 1-800-QUIT-NOW (784-8669). The service is free to anyone 18 years and older and an

Indiana resident.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 11:36 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.