Janie Heath

Community-based participatory research and smoking cessation interventions: a review of the evidence.

This article reviews the evidence of the use of community-based participatory research (CBPR) and smoking cessation interventions. An overview of CBPR is provided, along with a description of the search methods and quality scoring. Research questions are explored to determine if CBPR improves the quality of research methods and community involvement in cessation intervention studies and cessation outcomes when using CBPR approaches. Results of the review are provided along with a comprehensive table summarizing all the included studies. Strengths and challenges of the CBPR approach are presented with recommendations for future research.

Evidence-Based Approach to an Inpatient Tobacco Cessation Protocol

Tobacco use contributes to USD53 to USD73 billion per year in healthcare expenditures and causes nearly 440,000 deaths per year. Given the strong cause-effect relationship between smoking and poor health outcomes, it is critical that smokers are identified early and advised about smoking cessation. Furthermore, the Joint Commission now mandates that tobacco cessation advice be given to patients admitted with heart failure, pneumonia, and acute myocardial infarction. As such, an interdisciplinary group at an urban academic medical center developed and implemented a tobacco cessation protocol with the goal of identifying and targeting inpatient smokers through evidence-based education and counseling. The protocol focused on admission assessment, education, and provision of standing orders for medication treatment for nicotine withdrawal and/or tobacco cessation therapy during the inpatient encounter and referral for outpatient counseling at discharge.

Management of Tobacco Dependence in Older Adults: Using Evidence-Based Strategies

Reducing tobacco use is a leading goal of the nations Healthy People 2010. To improve the health of all Americans during the first decade of the 21st century, tobacco control practices must be a top priority. Tobacco use is a chronic disease with multiple relapses, especially in older adults. Older adult smokers are often less educated, have a low socioeconomic status, are more likely to be female, and have reduced self-efficacy with the cessation process. Older adults suffer disproportionately from smoking-related diseases, yet experience physical, social, and psychological rewards from cessation. Older adults want to quit smoking and do so at similar rates of younger adults. Treating tobacco dependence in older adults should have the same consideration as treatment of other chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. Clinicians managing the care of smokers can be effective in promoting smoking cessation, regardless of the smokers age or duration of smoking history. The AHRQ guideline recommends clinicians ask, advise, assess, assist, and arrange follow-up for all smokers. Pharmacological and behavioral therapies are recommended to assist with the cessation process. Gerontological nurses can play a key role in optimizing health and successsful aging by reducing tobacco use in older adults.

Using evidence-based educational strategies to increase knowledge and skills in tobacco cessation

To meet the demand for improved patient outcomes and accountability for healthcare delivery, nurses must embrace a culture of evidence-based practice (EBP). Integrating EBP for tobacco cessation in nursing practice is particularly important for the 44.5 million smokers in the United States who contribute to

Emerging Issues on the Impact of Smoking on Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients With Lung Cancer and Their Families

157 billion of healthcare costs annually. Unfortunately, studies reveal that healthcare providers are not aware of what is considered the best evidence, the United States Public Health Service Clinical Practice Guideline: Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence, resulting in missed opportunities to promote optimal health outcomes for individuals wanting to quit smoking. Fortunately, leading healthcare authorities such as the Joint Commission of Accreditation for Healthcare Organizations and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services now require providers to offer tobacco cessation services. The challenges and opportunities to do this effectively are many and with limited resources it will be increasingly important to ensure that nurses have the necessary knowledge and skills to improve tobacco cessation outcomes. For tobacco cessation interventions to become a standard of nursing practice, strategic efforts must be directed at advancing nursing research that evaluates best educational strategies for promoting tobacco cessation interventions within nursing curricula. In this article, a framework to help address nursing strategies to bridge the gap between EBP and tobacco cessation will be described.

An official American Thoracic Society workshop report: tobacco control initiatives within the American Thoracic Society.

Compelling evidence exists that continued smoking after a diagnosis of lung cancer adversely affects treatment effectiveness, survival, risk of recurrence, second malignancy, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). The importance of HRQOL to patients with cancer and their families has been well documented. Because of increasing evidence of the benefits of smoking cessation, more research has focused on the impact of smoking on HRQOL. Smoking is a behavior that clusters in families; patients who smoke are likely to have family members who smoke, and together they experience impaired HRQOL. This article describes the evidence regarding HRQOL measurement in individuals diagnosed with lung cancer and their family members who smoke and explores the implications for nursing practice. Oncology nurses are in a critical position to advocate for the integration of HRQOL assessment into clinical settings, monitor patient and family member smoking status and environmental tobacco smoke exposure, and support development of smoking cessation interventions to enhance HRQOL.

The Synergy Model at Work in a Military ICU in Iraq

Cigarette smoking represents the single most preventable cause of premature morbidity and mortality in the United States and the burden of tobacco use is apparent world-wide. Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the third leading cause of death in the United States in 2004. The American Thoracic Society (ATS) and its members have contributed significantly to an understanding of the biological and pathophysiologic mechanisms responsible for the development and management of tobacco-attributable disease and disability. The societys active involvement in tobacco control advocacy and policy-related initiatives are central to its mission. Within the ATS, there is also increased interest in accelerating the societys efforts to understand the mechanisms responsible for the uptake, persistence, and cessation of tobacco use. Scientific, clinical, and educational activities that include an examination of these underlying mechanisms are warranted. This paper describes findings from an ATS initiative that developed a preliminary strategy for enhancing scientific, clinical, educational, and policy-related tobacco control efforts that are consistent with the vision of the ATS. The specific aims of this project included the identification of existing mechanisms, as well as the current governance in place within the ATS infrastructure, to address tobacco control issues related to scientific inquiry, policy initiatives, and advocacy for tobacco control. This assessment generated recommendations to inform the ATS leadership with regard to the future development of relevant tobacco control initiatives.

Urgent Smoking Cessation Interventions

The Synergy Model for Patient Care, developed by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), demonstrates that positive patient outcomes are achieved when patient characteristics are matched with nurse competencies. Through the vivid realities in the daily journal of a military ICU nurse taking care of patients in Iraq, a virtual triad learning experience provided academic, clinical, and personal support. This article describes how effective nursing practice, whether providing direct patient care in the United States or in a military ICU in Iraq, must be centered around the needs and characteristics of patients. Acute and critically ill patients in a military ICU in Iraq have unique needs and require nurses with competent skills to help promote optimal outcomes.

Methods Used by Critical Care Nurses to Verify Feeding Tube Placement in Clinical Practice

Enhancing the health status of CABG patients.

Comparison of Enrollment Rates of African-American Families into a School-Based Tobacco Prevention Trial Using Two Recruitment Strategies in Urban and Rural Settings

BACKGROUND The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses practice alert on verification of feeding tube placement makes evidence-based practice recommendations to guide nursing management of adult patients with blindly inserted feeding tubes. Many bedside verification methods do not allow detection of improper positioning of a feeding tube within the gastrointestinal tract, thereby increasing aspiration risk. OBJECTIVES To determine how the expected practices from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses practice alert were implemented by critical care nurses. METHODS This study was part of a larger national, online survey that was completed by 370 critical care nurses. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. RESULTS Seventy-eight percent of nurses used a variety of methods to verify initial placement of feeding tubes, although 14% were unaware that tube position should be confirmed every 4 hours. Despite the inaccuracy of auscultation methods, only 12% of nurses avoided this practice all of the time. CONCLUSIONS Implementation of expected clinical practices from this guideline varied. Nurses are encouraged to implement expected practices from this evidence-based, peer reviewed practice alert to minimize risk for patient harm.