Smoking cessation programmes

"Establishment of a smoking cessation programme in primary and secondary care in Canterbury."  Town, G. I., Fraser, P. et al. (2000). New Zealand Medical Journal 113: 117-119.  http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/113-1107/2178/content.pdf

Smokescreen for the 1990’s is an Australian smoking cessation programme. This study evaluated the establishment of this program in Christchurch. Quit rates were assessed by interview six months after enrolment.  Implementation was successful with 59 general practitioners, 49 practice nurses and 294 hospital staff receiving education in the use of the programme. Nine hundred and seven patients (smokers) were enrolled in the study, 347 from primary care and 560 from Christchurch Hospital. The point prevalence abstinence rate at 6 months was 10.4% for the primary care and 17% for the secondary care groups, with an overall rate of 14.4%.

 "Improving the effectiveness of smoking cessation in primary care: lessons learned." Richards, D., Toop, L. et al. (2003). New Zealand Medical Journal 116 (1173 ).  http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/116-1173/417/

The ‘Smokescreen’ cessation programme was introduced in Christchurch in 1995, with an initial study showing six-month, quit rates of 10% and 17%, in primary and secondary care settings. Substantial modifications were made to try to improve this rate. As a result the overall six-month quit rate was 36% which compares favourably with figures for NRT-based programmes reported in the literature of 14–22%. The smoking cessation programme in a general primary care setting appears to have been significantly enhanced by local adaptation, the flexibility of a primary-care-team approach and subsidisation of NRT, together with facilitation responsive to individual practice needs.