Glenview, IL – The American College of Chest Physicians® (CHEST) recently released a new clinical guideline for tobacco treatment in the inpatient setting . Published in the journal CHEST®, the guideline contains six evidence-based recommendations that synthesize the existing literature to inform key components of inpatient tobacco treatment.
Cigarette smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and smoking rates are especially high among individuals of lower socioeconomic status and among hospitalized populations. Tobacco treatment interventions are among the most cost-effective strategies in health care but are often underutilized.
"When a patient is hospitalized, there is a real opportunity to initiate tobacco treatment," said Hasmeena Kathuria, MD, lead author of the guideline. "Our hope is that the standardized approach will help more clinicians feel comfortable providing counseling and pharmacotherapy to all hospitalized patients who smoke unless they explicitly decline and support continued treatment after discharge. Implementing these approaches is likely to improve smoking-cessation outcomes and reduce hospital readmissions."
Highlights of the recommendations include:
- In hospitalized adults who smoke cigarettes, we recommend initiating varenicline during hospitalization to promote smoking cessation following discharge.
- In hospitalized adults who currently smoke cigarettes, we recommend inpatient tobacco treatment counseling (15 or more minutes) over brief advice (less than 15 minutes).
- In hospitalized adults who currently smoke cigarettes, we recommend that inpatient tobacco treatment counseling include a referral to postdischarge tobacco treatment counseling (eg, scheduled follow-up contact; direct or electronic health record referral to a quitline or outpatient program).
The entire list of recommendations included in the new guideline can be accessed through the CHEST journal website in the article, " Tobacco Treatment in the Inpatient Setting: An American College of Chest Physicians Clinical Practice Guideline. "
About the American College of Chest Physicians
The American College of Chest Physicians®
