title: Rapid implementation of a smokers' quitline fax referral service in an urban area.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To increase use of fax referral services to a state smokers' quitline.
  
  
  METHODS
  Program evaluation.
  
  
  METHODS
  A populous urban county.
  
  
  METHODS
  Smokers older than 17 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  In January 2005, a state-funded smoking cessation center began to offer training and technical assistance to clinical sites to expand tobacco control services.
  
  
  METHODS
  Proportion of each county's smokers referred to quitline.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Prior to program onset, only one Bronx provider had made a fax referral to the quitline. In 2006, 943 fax referrals were made, representing 0.5% of all smokers in the county. This was a higher proportion than any other state county with an adult population exceeding 250,000. Bronx smokers are 2.47 times more likely to be fax-referred to the quitline than other smokers in New York.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A program consisting of training and technical assistance, and emphasizing systems change, can markedly increase providers' use of quitline referral services.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA. steven.bernstein@yale.edu
authors.forename: Steven L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Bernstein
authors.forename: Saba
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jearld
authors.forename: Deepa
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bax
authors.forename: Ursula
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bauer
mesh_terms: D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods; D015277:Hotlines / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D009518:New York; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D016636:Telefacsimile; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*