Ask and act: Delaware physicians demonstrate the effectiveness of the American Academy of Family Physicians' initiative to promote tobacco cessation counseling.
The Ask and Act program of the American Academy of Family Physicians promotes family physician tobacco cessation counseling. Smoking and cessation counseling rates were obtained by cross-sectional analysis of electronic medical record data before and after initiation of the Ask and Act program in Delaware. Before the intervention, 24% of the patient population sampled were smokers and 70% of smokers had been counseled to quit smoking. After the intervention, 17% of the patient population sampled were smokers and 98% of smokers had been counseled. Our observations suggest that the Ask and Act program increases counseling, thereby increasing smoking cessation.
Mullins
Sarah
S
Department of Family and Community Medicine, Christiana Care Health Service, Newark, Delaware, USA.
Fagan
Heather Bittner
HB
Reed
James F
JF
Bercaw
David
D
D003376:Counseling / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003691:Delaware; D005194:Family Practice / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000592:standards*; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D012955:Societies, Medical