Premium
What are the factors that influence the delivery of smoking cessation advice in critical care?
Author(s) -
Lang Markus,
Waterworth Susan,
O'Brien Anthony
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
nursing in critical care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.689
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1478-5153
pISSN - 1362-1017
DOI - 10.1111/nicc.12190
Subject(s) - smoking cessation , medicine , advice (programming) , family medicine , pathology , programming language , computer science
Background The world's leading cause of preventable deaths, diseases and disabilities is smoking. Hospitalization can provide an opportunity for smokers to quit. Previous research found that smokers make up a high percentage of patients admitted to intensive care. Health care professionals working in critical care environments can make a valuable contribution to this public health issue by providing smoking cessation advice. Aim To identify factors that inhibit and facilitate the delivery of smoking cessation advice by nurses and doctors in critical care settings. Design Quantitative design using an online survey. Methods This research was a single centre study carried out in a large tertiary hospital. Study sites were two adult critical care departments including a 14‐bed general intensive care and a 16‐bed cardiovascular intensive care unit. The target population for this research was the nursing and medical staff working in adult critical care environments. Results The data suggests that doctors and nurses have a good understanding of the complications related to tobacco use and also have education on smoking cessation. Additionally the data suggest that doctors and nurses at the study sites generally have positive attitudes towards smoking cessation. Patient acuity and competence were concerns raised in relation to the delivery and effectiveness of smoking cessation advice in critical care environments. Conclusions The recovery phase following critical illness might be an opportunity to provide cessation advice. This could include focusing cessation advice efforts on awake, orientated and extubated patients. Further research might be required to confirm this. Relevance to clinical practice The provision of smoking cessation advice is an on‐going World Health Organization and New Zealand Government priority and all parts of the health sector need to provide responses. However, responses need to be adapted to the specific context such as the unique challenges of critical care.