Helping patients to quit smoking

After completing this module, you should be more aware of:

·      The Department of Health’s new tobacco control plan ‘Towards a Smoke-free Generation’;

·      how demand for established smoking cessation products and services are declining;

·      what the priorities are for stop smoking support over the next five years;

·      the level of endorsement for using e-cigarettes in smoking cessation.

REFLECTION
Have customers been less interested in asking for your support or for OTC medicines to help quit smoking? What are your views on e-cigarettes and how comfortable are you about discussing their role in helping smokers to quit? Are you aware of any local priorities for stop smoking support?

PLANNING
What opportunities are there in the forthcoming months to promote smoking cessation activities eg Stoptober, New Year’s resolutions, No Smoking Day? Are any local stop smoking services being commissioned? When do you want to complete this learning activity? And how will it help your CPD?

ACTION
In addition to reading this article, what other activities will you do? What resources have you identified or used?

EVALUATION
How will you put your learning into practice? For the next ten customer enquiries about wanting to stop smoking, can you find out what mix of established smoking cessation aids and newer nicotine delivery products the customer has considered or tried? What did you advise? Can you follow up with the customer to find out about whether this affected their quit attempt and was it successful?