Impact of a smoking cessation educational program on nurses' interventions.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate a brief educational program about smoking cessation on the frequency of nurses' interventions with smokers, and impact of nurses' smoking status on outcomes.


METHODS
Prospective, single group design with prestudy and 3 months post-study data.


METHODS
Nurses in the Czech Republic attended hospital-based 1-hr educational programs about helping smokers quit. They completed surveys about the frequency (i.e., always, usually, sometimes, rarely, never) of their smoking cessation interventions with patients using the five A's framework (i.e., ask, advise, assess, assist, arrange), and their attitudes prior to and 3 months after the course. Demographic data included smoking status.


RESULTS
Among the 98 nurses with prestudy and post-study data, all were female, mean age was 43 years, 33% were current smokers, and 64% worked in a medical or surgical or oncology settings. At 3 months, compared to baseline, significantly (p < .05) more nurses assessed patients' interest in quitting, assisted with quit attempts, and recommended the use of the quitline for cessation. At 3 months after the program, nurses who smoked were less likely to ask about smoking status (odds ratio [OR] = 4.24, 95% confidence interval [CI; 1.71, 10.53]), advise smokers to quit (OR = 3.03, 95% CI [1.24,7.45]), and refer patients to a quitline (OR = 2.92, 95% CI [0.99, 8.63]) compared to nonsmokers, despite no differences in delivery of interventions at baseline.


CONCLUSIONS
Three months after attendance at an educational program focused on the nurses' role in supporting smoking cessation efforts, more nurses engaged in interventions to help smokers quit. However, the program was less effective for nurses who smoked.


CONCLUSIONS
This program demonstrated promise in building capacity among Czech nurses to assist with smoking cessation, but nurses' smoking poses a challenge.
Gamma Tau Chapter, Professor and Lulu Wolf Hassenplug Endowed Chair, School of Nursing, University of California, Los Angeles, CA.
Linda P
LP
Sarna
Stella Aguinaga
SA
Bialous
Eva
E
Kraliková
Alexandra
A
Kmetova
Vladislava
V
Felbrová
Stanislava
S
Kulovaná
Katerina
K
Malá
Eva
E
Roubicková
Marjorie J
MJ
Wells
Jenny K
JK
Brook
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D018153:Czech Republic; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D015277:Hotlines; D006801:Humans; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D057184:Practice Patterns, Nurses' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention
Czech Republic; Eastern Europe; Smoking; intervention; nurses; tobacco