Nurses
"If the 2.2 million working nurses in the U.S. each helped one person per year quit smoking, nurses would triple the U.S. quit rate."1
Nurses know the risks associated with tobacco use. Even more devastating are the many clients nurses see that are coming to terms with these tobacco-related health problems. Nurses are on the front lines every day working with clients and have more contact with clients in many different medical settings than any other health care provider.2 Therefore, nurses are in a unique position to intervene with those who currently smoke or use tobacco products, help those that have quit stay tobacco-free, and motivate non-users to never use tobacco products in the first place. Nurses have an obligation to help clients quit and maintain abstinence from tobacco products.
While this may seem like a big task, there are many tools and guidelines to help nurses work with clients. We hope you will explore the following information and use it in your daily interactions with clients. While other information on the MDQuit website will be useful to you and other professionals, the following information has been tailored for people in the nursing field.
The following information is from Nurses: Help Your Patients Stop Smoking.3
- Know the facts about tobacco use and quitting that are important to your clients:
- Smoking increases the risk of death from many diseases such as cancer and heart disease by as much as 12 times.
- Smoking while pregnant increases risk of low birth weight, miscarriage, premature birth, and death of the baby.
- The benefits for quitting tobacco use include overall health improvements, reducing risks of diseases, improved hygiene, and a safer existence for loved ones who breathe in secondhand smoke.
- Quitting does come with some challenges such as potential weight gain, cravings, physical reactions, and changes to daily routine.
- How to talk to your clients about tobacco use:
- Keep your advice simple and direct.
- Talk to every client about tobacco use.
- Encourage every smoker to quit, but avoid disputes.
- Help tobacco users get ready to quit within the next few weeks or the soonest possible date the client can begin. Use some of the tools listed below to help clients start a quit plan.
- Help your client understand the health risks associated with tobacco use and the benefits that come with quitting (see facts above).
- Help clients identify situations in which it would be tempting to use tobacco, other things they can do instead to distract themselves, and how to avoid those situations in the first place.
- Help clients work through relapses and use these "slips" as teaching times to learn how to make this newest quit attempt more successful.
- Prepare clients for withdrawal symptoms, most of which will occur in the first few weeks of being tobacco-free.
- Make sure you follow up with your clients when you see them for their next visit. If possible, call or send a card around the quit date to reinforce that they have your support.
- Practice how to talk to clients and make it routine.
- Things to remember:
- Remember that the majority of smokers want to quit and just need someone to offer information about how to begin.
- Remember that most smokers do not need a formal program to quit; they just need some advice.
- Understand the stages of quitting smoking: Precontemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, Maintenance.
- Hearing the same advice from several people is more effective than if it is heard just once, so encourage other professionals working with your clients to talk to them about their tobacco use too.
- Tools for talking to your clients about tobacco use:
- The Nurses Help Your Patients Stop Smoking Guide sponsored by the NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute provides a comprehensive guide for nurses to help their clients successfully quit smoking.
- Included in the guide is information on how to:
- Quit and Be Free
- Breaking the Habit
- Sticking with Your Effort to Stop Smoking
- Smoking Cessation Contract
- Pocket Guide to Nurses' Smoking Intervention
- Useful websites for you:
- Other useful documents:
Fax to Assist
See Fax to Assist for more information on our Fax Referral Program.
References:
1 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Tobacco Free Nurses (2005). Helping Smokers Quit: A Guide for Nurses.
2 Singleton, J.K. (2004). Research new you can use: Base your practice on evidence. Report for July/August 2004.
3 Blair, J. E. & Buxton, T. (1993). Nurses: Help your patients stop smoking. National Institutes of Health: Publication No. 92-2962 National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Smoking Education Program.
4 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Tobacco Free Nurses (2005). Helping Smokers Quit: A Guide for Nurses.
5 American Nurses Foundation. (1997). Social causes and health care position statements: Prevention of tobacco use in youth. Effective March 26, 1997.
