Hospital-based smoking cessation programs: a statewide survey
Polednak, A.P.
Connecticut Medicine 64(11): 683-685
2000
ISSN/ISBN: 0010-6178 PMID: 11125635 Document Number: 514670
Hospitalization is regarded as a "window of opportunity" for initiating smoking-cessation programs, but the proportion of hospitalized smokers reached by such programs is uncertain. While 25 of 31 Connecticut acute-care hospitals surveyed (March-April 2000) had a smoking cessation program, only three had a program specifically for hospital patients. Each of these three programs counseled several hundred patients per year. Programs at the other hospitals included few hospital patients. Only a small proportion of the estimated hospitalized (inpatient) smokers were reached by a hospital-based cessation program. Hospitalized smokers remain largely a missed opportunity with regard to enhancing long-term smoking cessation rates.