Thanks to a new tobacco-treatment protocol, every inpatient at University Hospital with a history of tobacco use will have an opportunity to meet with a pharmacist to receive nicotine-replacement medications and brief coaching about quitting tobacco, regardless of insurance.

The initiative was inspired by research showing the effectiveness of brief bedside interventions for tobacco intervention. Ann Sheehy, MD, MS, associate professor and head, Hospital Medicine, is co-leading the effort.

“It’s pretty simple but extremely beautiful to have this resource available to quit smoking," said Dr. Sheehy.

The opt-out protocol means that all patients who smoke will automatically be offered help due to an electronic health record (EHR) prompt.

“We would never ignore high blood pressure and make the patient opt in to care for it; we treat high blood pressure. So we’re doing the same with tobacco use," said Michael Fiore, MD, MPH, MBA, professor, General Internal Medicine and director, UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention (UW CTRI).

Resources:

• "Inpatient Tobacco-Cessation Program About to Begin at UW Hospital," UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, May 14, 2018