BACKGROUND/RATIONALE:
Tobacco control is a top priority of the Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA). The VA generally provides smoking service through outpatient programs while impatient smoking cessation services are only sporadically provided. While outpatient smoking cessation programs are often poorly attended, hospitals are in a unique position to assist smokers to quit because most smokers are a captive audience, have temporarily quit smoking due to hospital smoking bans, and are motivated to quit due to recent illness. Moreover, inpatient programs have been well received by patients and have been found to be highly efficacious and cost-effective in non-VA settings.

OBJECTIVE(S):
The purpose of this project is to assess the reach, effectiveness, and costs of a highly successful, nurse-administered smoking cessation program using a general population of hospitalized veteran smokers.

METHODS:
There will be three types of evaluation. The reach of the program will be evaluated by calculating participation rates and descriptive statistics of a satisfaction survey. The effectiveness of the intervention will be evaluated by comparing 6- and 12-month smoking cessation rates to other similar clinical trials outside the VA system. Sub-analyses will be conducted to determine which smokers were most successful with the intervention. For those still smoking, harm reduction will be assessed by calculating the number of cigarettes smoked, nicotine addiction, and quit attempts. A cost analysis will also be conducted including identifying the cost of implementing the intervention in VA and estimating cost-per-quitter.

FINDINGS/RESULTS:
None at this time

IMPACT:
The end product will be a complete, carefully evaluated inpatient smoking cessation program that provides a system to identify and intervene with hospitalized veterans. If the results of this translational study are encouraging, we anticipate that it will pave the way for national dissemination among VA hospitals. This empirical data would support the cost-benefit of such a program and whether the program could pay for itself. The study could also be extended by comparing long-term health care utilization and re-hospitalization between patients who quit and those who do not.

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External Links for this Project

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PUBLICATIONS:

Journal Articles

1. Duffy SA, Reeves P, Hermann C, Karvonen C, Smith P. In-hospital smoking cessation programs: what do VA patients and staff want and need? Applied Nursing Research. 2008 Nov 1; 21(4):199-206. [view]

Conference Presentations

1. Duffy SA. In-patient Smoking Cessation Programs: What Do VA Patients and Staff Want and Need. Paper presented at: Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco Annual Conference; 2005 Mar 1; Prague, Czech Republic. [view]

DRA: Substance Use Disorders, Health Systems
DRE: Treatment - Observational, Prevention
Keywords: Implementation, Management, Smoking
MeSH Terms: none