November 16: Great American Smokeout and Tobacco Free Nurses Focus on Tobacco Cessation

The findings of the most recent report of the prevalence of smoking among adults in the US estimate that 20.9% of the population continues to smoke (23.9% men and 18.1% women). There has been little change in the number the number of smokers in the US, 45.1 million, since the last report. In order to reach the Healthy People 2010 goal of 12% cigarette prevalence, a concerted effort is needed by all healthcare professionals to help smokers quit and to prevent youth from starting. Nurses can have a significant impact on reducing smoking by helping smokers quit. Every year, smoking cessation is the focus of a burst of activities in support of the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smoke-out, held the Thursday before Thanksgiving, November 16, 2006.

Nurses and nursing organizations can take advantage of this national day by marking it as the start of their tobacco control activities. The Tobacco Free Nurses Initiative www.tobaccofreenurses.org , partnering with the American Nurses Association/American Nurses Foundation, www.nursingworld.org/anf/tobacco/ is a resource for helping nurses help smokers quit as well as a resource to help nurses who smoke with their own cessation efforts. Tobacco Free Nurses offers free materials for all nurses, including a pocket guide for nurses on how to provide science-based interventions to patients. All nurses can provide an effective intervention by asking patients about their smoking status, telling them that quitting is the most important thing they can do for their health and referring their patients who smoke to the national telephone quit line, 1-800 QUITNOW, which provides free evidence-based smoking cessation assistance. The Great American Smokeout is a wonderful opportunity for nurses to show their commitment to the health of the American public. Nurses have the power to triple the US quit rates, nurses can make a difference!