A new study out of Canada shows hospital-initiated smoking cessation programs really can help smokers quit and even prevent hospitalizations. The study was published in the BMJ journal Tobacco Control.
The program, called the Ottawa Model for Smoking Cessation, was designed by the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. The basis of the model is a change management strategy that includes training healthcare staff to implement clinical tools and procedures, identify and document every patient's smoking status, provide smokers with advice and pharmacological support, and follow up with patients long-term after hospital discharge.
The model was implemented at 14 hospitals in Ontario, Canada. Ultimately, the study results revealed:
- More than one-third (35 percent) of the patients who participated in the model were smoke-free at their six-month follow up, compared to 20 percent of non-participants.
- Model participants were half as likely to be readmitted to the hospital for any reason and 30 percent less likely to visit an emergency department one month after their initial hospitalization.
- Model participants were 21 percent less likely to be rehospitalized and 9 percent less likely to visit an ED in the two years following their hospitalization.
- The two-year mortality risk decreased 40 percent among the model participants.
According to lead author Kerri-Anne Mullen, PhD, the program's interventions are low-cost, and should be offered to all patients who smoke.
"It's a healthcare no-brainer," said Dr. Mullen. "Strategies like this are cost-effective, will reduce subsequent healthcare use, but most importantly, they are life-saving and will distinctly enhance the well-being of our patients who smoke."
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