Respiratory Care Professionals
Respiratory therapists are in a special position to promote the health of their clients, especially those suffering from asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and other breathing or other cardiopulmonary disorders. Many of the disorders that they treat are caused by or exacerbated by smoking.
Respiratory therapists could help a large number of clients quit smoking by:1
- Taking time to advise them about quitting
- Helping them plan a date to quit
- Giving them self-help materials
- Following up with motivation and progress toward smoking cessation
- Making appropriate referrals to smoking cessation programs
Cigarette smoking is the leading avoidable cause of mortality in the U.S., accounting for 400,000 deaths each year. Respiratory therapists can play a major role in a client's life regarding smoking cessation.
Respiratory therapists working with chronically ill clients should be supportive of cessation efforts. Smoking cessation can prevent many respiratory disorders, and quitting smoking after diagnoses of a condition such as COPD can slow disease progression.2
A recent study in the Netherlands examined two smoking cessation interventions with 225 moderate to severe COPD patients. One-year continuous abstinence rates were 9% for the minimal intervention strategy for lung patients (LMIS) and 19% for the SmokeStopTherapy (SST).4 The authors recommend a stepped-care approach where intensive smoking cessation therapy is offered to patients who do not have a positive attitude toward quitting.
Respiratory patients have a more urgent need to stop smoking but may have a great deal of difficulty doing so, impacted by years of smoking history. Patients with respiratory conditions should be offered intensive smoking cessation counseling in combination with pharmacotherapy. This kind of counseling may be more feasible for respiratory professionals than for physicians who often lack time. 3
The effectiveness of cessation support by respiratory therapists could be increased by reimbursing pharmacological aids for smoking cessation and by developing simple tools to systematically assess motivation to quit (i.e., Fax-to-Assist Certification and the 5 A’s) and psychiatric co-morbidity in patients who smoke.
Fax to Assist
See Fax to Assist for more information on our Fax Referral Program.
Helpful Links
American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC): Tobacco Resources – “Respiratory therapists should be able to understand tobacco addiction, how to effectively evaluate tobacco use, how to assess readiness to change, and how to effectively treat tobacco addiction. Why?” Visit their resource webpage to find out more.
Click here to find out more about the link between Smoking and Mesothelioma from the the Asbestos and Mesothelioma Center.
American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC): Smoking Cessation Treatment Services – provides a description of the AARC’s involvement in tobacco-related advocacy and legislation.
American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC): Powerpoint Presentation - The Role of the Respiratory Therapists in Tobacco Cessation by Steven A. Schroeder MD, Director, Smoking Cessation Leadership Center, University of California, San Francisco, an informative look at the role and opportunity for respiratory therapy in smoking cessation services.For Members of the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC):
In 2005, the AARC Issued the Guidance Document on Smoking Cessation and the RT under Medicare, which addresses the circumstances under which Respiratory Therapists, and other respiratory care providers, can provide smoking cessation services covered for Medicare patients, as well as effective methods for providing these services.
